VACCINATION AGAINST WHOOPING COUGH

Abstract

As vaccination against whooping cough is still much discussed, the following observations might perhaps be of some interest. The vaccine used in the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen is always made from several recently cultivated strains of Bordet-Gengou bacilli; forty-eight hour blood agar cultures are emulsified in physiologic solution of sodium chloride containing 1 per cent solution of formaldehyde, so that the suspension contains about 10.000 millions of bacilli per cubic centimeter. The vaccine is given in three injections intramuscularly or subcutaneously with intervals of from three to four days: 0.5, 0.7 and 1.0 cc. This dosage is greater than that usually employed. As generally maintained, one of the advantages of whooping cough vaccination is the absence usually of severe reactions following the injections, although it would seem correct to call attention to two deaths that have occurred in Denmark. In both cases, the children concerned were new-born in families