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14
Four bad been re-vaccinated before being exposed to the risk of
contagion.
*Partirulars of the 3 Cases :—
M. 7 months, vaccinated 2nd November, 1895, Eruption appeared on the
9th of the month.
M. 2 months, vaccinated 30th July, 1895, Eruption appeared on the 13th
August.
M. 14 months, vaccinated on the 23rd of the month, and 2 days later the
Eruption appeared. These cases should therefore be removed into
the "unvaccinated " class.
I sent to Dr. Ricketts, the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital
Ships, a list of all reported cases of Small-pox under the age of 11,
classified as "unvaccinated." The Doctor very kindly reported to me
details of each case. There were in all 14 cases. One proved not to
have been Small-pox. Six were unvaccinated. Four had no Foveated
Cicatrices. All who bad been protected had the disease mildly. All the
unprotected had the form of disease known as "Severe Discrete."
And still there are men who affect to decry the prophylactic powers of
vaccination. Still, they state that the vaccine virus is altogether
different in its origin from the virus of Small-pox, and that it consists of
a materies morbi of some dangerous kind. These men deny the truth
that vaccinia in the human subject is small-pox in the cow. If proof were
required that this is so, it is forthcoming in a third case recently reported
upon by Mr. Jonathan Hutchinson, where an infant who was vaccinated
at the same time as other children, and from the same lymph with which
they were vaccinated, developed Small-pox, whereas all the others had
the ordinary vaccine disease, thus clearly showing the possibility of a
reversion to the original disease. In such cases, however, there is no
contagious power present in the patient.
One fact appears to me to be prominently shown in the Table which I
present above. In vaccinated subjects the immunity becomes considerably
less after the age of 10 years. It appears, therefore, reasonable to
urge that re-vaccination should be employed before that age has been
passed. After the age of 20, those who are only protected by infant
vaccination incur considerable risk if they become exposed to the
contagion of Small-pox.