| Show LEWIS we OAKS SAYS INFLUENZA MASKS IMS ineffective lewis W oaks oaka son of wm win oaks of this city anc and who la is a senior student in the jefferson medical college sends us ua the following very in fo te resting communication la in regard to bo vaccinating tor for the influenza it reads editor vernal express at hand are two copies of the vernal express la in each of them appears a very favorable announcement concerning the use UBO of at antl anti influenza vaccine and it seemed to me ine they were disposed to treat too lightly a matter ser bously concerns the people at large and regarding which they failed to set forth the whole truth vaccination or inoculation for those diseases against which it has baa been proved to bo a safeguard is a practice to be regarded with the highest approval for there lg Is absolutely no ground left tor for argument where here suell such conditions are to be met it should be remembered however that the vaccines in these cases case were only tottered to the public actor they had been subjected to careful and tests to prove their merit a tact fact which is in no sense true of the present vaccine against influenza and when it comes to carrying pa an systematized experiment upon the people they should not be lett latt in ignorance of or deceived in regard to just how much they may confidently dently expect from the same vot for vaccination even where of 0 undoubted value i is not a thing to b staken lightly in every case bavine been through the epidemic in philadelphia and being in an touch with some of the foremost medical authorities of our coup country coultry try I 1 felt it might not bp bo impertinent for or me to write you yota and try to Cran transmit a few wats points of information which I 1 have gathered for that purpose in the hope that they might be ot interest to those most nearly concerned in th to first of the above mentioned announcements announcement appears this sentence according to the foremost foro moat medical authorities in the united states the most effective way of stopping the spread of influenza la Is through the use ot of specially prepared vaccine erum ls now being prepared for distribution by the state board ot of health and la in the later one the ban Is i being gradually lifted 1 I off cities and count counties les and the show that no particular ill III e cf f effects hove have followed it has been noticed in overy every instance that the tha two prominent features which have produced these beneficent results are il 1 the enforcement of str strict et quarantine regulations and 2 the vaccination ci of people with the new an U verum so far as aa concerns isolation of all cases and strict quarantine regulations they are to be emphatically recommended in every case but the new anti influenza Is undoubtedly a creation ot of some advertising ver agents heedless enthus easm aam I 1 say this in view of the facts 1 that the cause of the so called influenza la Is not definitely known at present and 2 that the vaccine which js is being so highly extolled by I 1 its makers is not made up ot of any one specific bacterial organism but contains a number of at different kinds of bacteria which are known to produce disease of 0 one type or another in the human body nor Is this a new product as aa was intimated for it was recommended in 14 various conditions for some come time before the appearance nee of the present epidemic within the last fortnight in a lecture to the senior class of jefferson medical ocil college lege doctor thomas mccrae one of the leading medical authorities ties of 0 the present day stated that the use of anti influenza vaccine is still a practice of questionable merit even when carried out as a preventative measure and that its ita use during the course of the disease is BS a means of treatment had undoubtedly done great karm harm doctor mccrae also warned the men against credulity in the claims claim of manufacturers of the various vaccines and sera saying many physicians have been carried off their feet by sensational advertising mat tor ter that has found its way into the medical journals and most of which has no foundation in scientific tact fact lie he then cited the experiment carried out at a largo large hospital near philadelphia where at the beginning of the epidemic last autumn fitly fifty of the one hundred nurses were faccin abed against influenza during the following period of 0 some two months practically all of those vaccinated vaccina ted I 1 the majori escaped the infection both groups were doing the same work ork in the same wards of at the hospital when the epidemic reached its height in philadelphia there were as many as aa fourteen teen hundred new cases each twenty t enty four hours and it was utterly impossible to get out fic J y lent medical aid tor for all to help get I 1 control af pf of the tt co conditions nAtions f which bad suddenly come to prevail in the city the senior class of jeffer son medical college comprising one hundred cases of the disease every day tor for two or three weeks under the most moat favorable conditions lori fort I 1 contracting the infection except that all wore masks while in the sick room set only four of them were attacked by tho the disease out of the entire group but three or tour four were vaccinated vaccina ted agal against rist influenza Int luenia I 1 in thel the Journal of the american I 1 Medic nial association tor for the cur rent week Is a report upon the influenza from a special committee of the american public health association in that report occurs the tha following in reaction to the use of vaccine tor for tha prevention of influenza the evidence evi denee that has come to 10 the atten altion of the committee KS as to the sue BUC cers or lack of i of the practice Is contradictory and abla in view of the fact that the causative organism to la unknown II 11 I 1 there to la ro BO lc asela tor or the of any particular vaccina against the tha primary disease ili sease if used any I 1 vaccine must be employed on the chance that it bears a relation to the unknown organism causing the disease the use of vaccines tor for the complicating cating infections rests resta on more logical grounds and yet tho the committee com alt has not sufficient evidence to in dicato that they can be used with any confident assur assurance ande ot at success in the use of these vaccines the patient should realize that the practice lis is still in the developmental san stage gc As I 1 havo have already stated I 1 take the liberty of submitting the two or three points above in the hope that they may play hocq gome little part in helping on a better understanding ot of what the situation really la Is in n regard to in this dreaded disease we are hoping each day to hear bear that the ler terrible ravages 0 of this partner of death are subsiding among our own people as well as e elsewhere sew bere sincerely yours youra LEWIS W OAKS |
