VACCINATION OF CHILDREN WITH VARIOUS CHORIOALLANTOIC PASSAGES OF MEASLES VIRUS

[摘要] An extensive study of the usefulness of a vaccine produced by the growth of the measles virus on the chorioallantoic membrane of the fertile hen's egg was undertaken as a joint study in Baltimore and Philadelphia. Four hundred ninety-seven children were vaccinated and followed for a period covering at least one close exposure to a major epidemic of measles. Eighteen of these children contracted measles within 13 days of their vaccination, and thus could not be included in final tabulations. Of the remaining 479 children, 330, or 69%, contracted the disease. Fifty unvaccinated children served as controls and of these, 44, or 88%, developed measles. The morbidity rate of 69% of the present series should be compared with the morbidity rate of 39% in a smaller series of vaccinated children described by some of the present authors elsewhere. Although the present study suffered from certain shortcomings, it is believed that the following conclusions can be drawn. First, that the chorioallantoic membrane vaccine produced mild symptoms of measles in a large number but not in the majority of children vaccinated, and second, that whatever protection was afforded by the vaccination procedure was minimal in degree. Unfortunately, the reasons for the failure of the vaccine to afford better protection are not evident, nor does it seem probable that they will be fully understood until better methods are available for working with the virus in vitro and in the laboratory.

[学科分类] 儿科学