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Show Gamma Globulin Provides Temporary Polio Immunity I VITTTH the nation's polio cases I mounting steadily during the last five years, news that research and scientific tests have demonstrated demon-strated the effectiveness of lm- imune serum globulin in giving human beings some degree of temporary immunity against the , disease will be particularly Wei ll come in rural areas where it has struck hardest, i v The serum commonly called i gamma globulin is a protein frac- i tionated from human blood. Now j the American Red Cross has been requested by the Office of Defense i Mobilization to expand defense blood collections in an effort to .make gamma globulin available daring this summer's epidemics. Working at full capacity, the country's pharmaceutical labora-' labora-' tories will be unable to produce sufficient gamma globulin for all persons wno will be exposed to the virus an estimated 2,000,000 children chil-dren living in anticipated epidemic areas. Allocation and distribution of the serum, therefore, will not be : handled by the Red Cross, but by j some other agency yet to be desig- j nated by the O.D.M. Discovery of the usefulness of gamma globulin followed scientific tests during the past two years in Provo, Utah; Houston, Texas; and Sioux City, Iowa, under the auspices aus-pices of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The gamma globulin used in these experiments also was provided by the Red Cross. While no one can predict the incidence in-cidence of polio in 1953, figures seemingly speak for themselves. The case rate has Increased steadily stead-ily since 1946 and last year's total of 57,000 reported cases not only was an all-time high, but was also more than two and one-half times greater than the annual average for the past 15 years. Many of the 1952 cases were in such predominantly predom-inantly rural states as Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Kansas, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky and Michigan. The Foundation reports that polio invaded the nation's farms with savage frequency last year. In Mapleton, Iowa, for example, 11 of the 14 children of Joe and Clara Thiel were stricken; while in Taylor, Tay-lor, Wise, five out of eight chil-dren chil-dren in one family contracted polio. The Red Cross also will continue its primary responsibility as the coordinating agency for the collection col-lection of whole blood for the armed forces, national defense and civilian hospitals as part of the National Blood Program under ODM auspices. Since the Red Cross launched its present blood program in 1948, it has procured with the help of cooperating community blood banks over 8.180,000 donations dona-tions of blood for civilian use and for national defense. |
