The control of diphtheria and scarlet fever / by R.A. O'Brien.

  • O'Brien, Richard Alfred, 1878-1970.
Date:
[1928?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The control of diphtheria and scarlet fever / by R.A. O'Brien. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from the BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, September 8th, 1928. THE CONTROL OF DIPHTHERIA AND SCARLET FEVER.* BY R. A. O’BRIEN, C.B.E., M.D., Wellcome Physiological Research Laboratories, Beckenham, Kent. DIPHTHERIA. I anticipate that those who join with me in opening the discussion will agree that with swabbing, testing for viru¬ lence to detect the true diphtheria bacillus, Schick-testing, active immunization with prophylactic, and, in emergen¬ cies, passive immunization with serum, we can control an outbreak or prevent outbreaks—if the population concerned is disposed to take full advantage of these measures. Just as surely as Pasteur and his hostile critics, when they saw in the dawn on the farm at Pouilly-le-Fort the vacci¬ nated sheep quite well while the unvaccinated lay dying of anthrax, knew that complete control of that disease was available to those who wished, so the medical administrators of the large fever hospitals and residential schools know that they can promise the almost complete abolition of diphtheria amongst the nurses or pupils. Applied to the general population the problem passes out of the narrow field of experimental observation on small groups of people with complete controls, and other considerations, economic, social, and political, play a part. The Practitioner’s Part in Control. The control of any infectious disease rests upon the joint work of the general practitioner and the public health authorities. From communications with general practi¬ tioners I would with considerable trepidation suggest that perhaps the busy practitioner, faced with the call for quick decision in daily practice, would welcome a short didactic statement by the Association somewhat on the following lines : Patient.—If a patient has the smallest amount of membrane in the throat or nose, or any sudden difficulty in breathing, and any suspicion of diphtheria arises, take a swab if you wish, but give antitoxin at once. The risk * Read in a discussion in the Section of Preventive Medicine of the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, Cardiff, 1928. [407/28]