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58
The prevention of diphtheria lies in immunising
susceptible persons and in creating a general improvement
of the environment so as to operate against the spread of
infection when it arises. The susceptible person we can
discover by the Schick Test even with its occasional error.
They can be immunised by the Schick routine with a
reliability equal to 95 per cent. It is not claimed for this
valuable method in the prevention of a dangerous disease
that it is infallible, but we can certainly say that any
method that can give 90 per cent, success is worthy of
public support.
During the past five years the incidence of diphtheria
has been a low one. I am satisfied that the amount of
immunising carried out in the past five years has not been
the cause of this low incidence, but the low incidence has
certainly kept the public in a sense of false security and in
spite of propaganda the public has not responded to
immunisation as they should have done. If one is to
prevent diphtheria, immunisation must be on a large scale
and must operate many months before any epidemic starts.
It takes at least three months to create an immunity in a
susceptible person.
Diphtheria Immunisation, 1933.
The following are the statistics of the Immunising
Clinic held every Monday afternoon at the School
Clinic:—
Total not previously Schick Tested 30
Total Schick Tested 77
Found to be positive 59
Found to be negative 18
Total No. of persons who received full course
of injections 107
Total No. of persons who were finally re-tested
after following results 101
1st Re-test. 2nd Re-test. 3rd Re-test. 4th Re-test.
Positive 5 2 1
Negative 96 3 1 1
It is the practice where Schick positive after the first
re-test at three months after immunising to give a 4th
injection and to re-test again after three months.