SMALLPOX AND VACCINATION

Abstract

Twenty-five years ago, the surgeon general of the U. S. Marine Hospital Service, in his annual report, said: Smallpox is a disease so easily prevented by vaccination that the smallpox patient of today is scarcely deserving of sympathy, the improvement in the preparation of pure vaccine lymph having been so great that there is now little cause for fear of untoward results from vaccination. The spread of the disease also is so easily prevented under proper management that it is a disgrace to the sanitary authorities of any state, municipality or locality whenever this disease is permitted to get beyond their control. If the inability to manage the disease is due to a want of funds, then this lack of necessary provision is a disgrace to the state or locality infected. Unfortunately, we are faced with that disgrace. Smallpox is abroad in the land, and while in general it is