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Show n. s , j 7 ,. . . , s, - - " ertsfr, Jt. - AXT tlii--- f' J""V-'- ;jLV K ft I Thanks to a doctofs young daughter, we can now say good-by- e 'UtapMaa-- .'f . ' - I - I ,MH" - j V a . T -- One" waft Kirrten.HMman at Dr. -J- Zotxrf Fettd injects for wt aiiwnwp vaccine that vat developed by et" : w father from a virus foot owes 6tt Jeryl Lyn, at . - ' to this """V " i 7 I. ; f r j : - ' disease By THEODORE IRWIN "TERYL LYNN has the tl (known medically as infectious parotitis) to invade and injure many parts of the body. Severe cases oc-casionally bring on which may lead to brain inflammation and mental impair- mumps Dr. Maurice R. Hilleman listened as his wife described their daughter's swollen cheeks "like a chipmunk with a hoard of nuts" her hot forehead, and red, tearful eyes. "Ill be right home," he told her. 1" meningo-en-cephaliti- s, ment. The disease may also cause permanent deafness, contribute to r diabetes, and involve the eyes, heart, and pancreas. In rare instances, death has resulted. It was this knowledge that drove Dr. Hilleman in his search for a mumps vaccine. He knew, too, that for and adults, the mal-'-awas serious. In one out of five troublesome complications Among males, the most feared is orchitis, which sometimes causes sterility. With women, mumps may cause the ovaries to be: At that moment, Dr. Hilleman bad no way of knowing that the Ions arm of coincidence had just reached ont to change his life and along lives of hundreds of . with itT th thousands pf American children. Four yeon 090, before the news came that his own teen-age- rs five-year-o- ld daughter was ill with the disease, Dr. Hilleman had begun to wage an t. search for a mumps Vaccine that would provide safe, dependable, come inflamed all-ou- - and permanent protection. ' ' As director "of virus and "cell biology for the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research at West Point, Pa, he was working relentlessly to find the right virus strain from which he could make such a vaccine. So far, it had eluded him. When Dr. Hilleman arrived at his house, Jeryl Lynn's case of the mumps looked routine.' Usually mumps, the fourth most commonly reported communicable disease in. the fU&Tltnoi ITcause for alarm. In most cases, it runs its course as ajnikLvirus Infection, a nuisance causing fever, swelling of salivary glands, and ballooning of cheeks. As a medical man, though, Dr. Hilleman knew that mump! can trigger serious trouble. Among children, ifs possible fo- r- mumps" - by passing it through tissue cultures grown in chicken embryos. If the experiments succeeded, he would then have a thinned-ou- t virus that could be developed into a live vaccine. Such a live vaccine could be safely injected into another child or -- dy but this rarely af- fects fertility. When pregnant women catch the mumps, however, about SO percent have babies who are still-born or have congenital defects. Obviously, a vaccine was needed and, in fact, one already existed. It lacked what Dr. Hilleman sought lifelong immunity. The existing vaccine only gave protection for from six months to two years- .Though Jeryl Lynn's mumps were routine, her case was to make medical history. Her father isolated the virus that had caused Jeryl Lynn's illness and brought it to his labora i tory for experiments. As he had done with so many other virus strains, he put it through an involved series of tests. A permanent vaccine could , only be made from a live attenuated virus. Would Jeryl Lynn's strain be the right one? In experiment after experiment,' Dr. Hilleman "weakened" the virus -- Of those vaccinated in oassrooms 1 98 out of 100 escaped the mumps, even though they were expdeed to it during the epidemic. The scientists theorized that the two who did come down with the disease may have received the vaccine too late. Among tho school children who adultnosebodywould'develbp antibodies to fight the mumps virus without actually catching the disease itself. When the last experiment had been made. Dr. Hilleman was triumphant The virus isolated from his daughter turned out to be the one he had been looking for. At last, a permanent mumps vaccine was . .; possible to produce. From tho Jeryl Lynn strain, batches of vaccine were manufactured and tested. Among the first to be inoculated was Jeryl Lynn's 5 Jbabyjister,Kirsten . Jeane. When she screwed up her face and eyed the needle fearfully, her father said, "It won't hurt I'm going to have a shot myself." As it happened, neither Dr. Hilleman nor his associate, Dr. Eugene Buynak, had ever had the mumps. Both were vulnerable to the disease, and they confidently took their own newly discovered medicine. . Next more than 30,000 children and adults were vaccinated in clinical trials. Evidence pointed to the efficacy of the Jeryl Lynn strain. In onelypical field trial in the Havertown-Springflearea of suburban Philadelphia, Pa, 1,394 susceptible children were tested at home and In nurseries and kindergartens shortly before a mumps epidemic broke out Included in the study was a "control'' group of youngsters who " did not get the vaccine. . ld -- . were not vaccinated, more than half caught the infection. What about side effects ? At times some of the vaccinated children did have a fever and other slight symptoms. These, however, were no more and no greater than the normal symptoms shown by youngsters who did not receive ashot of the vaccine. imv And what about the lifetime Hilleman had been munity Dr; hoping for? On the basis of the immunizing antibody patterns found in the thousands of children and grownups inoculated so far, fie is confident that the mumps vaccine will give the same security as the live vaccine for measles or polio. Whhln tho months ahead, the virus produced from the Jeryl Lynn strain will become available to doctors across the country. Small fry and grownups, too can be given the vaccine with only a lingle shot in the arm. Although many parents shrug off the threat of mumps, doctors have always agreed that even a miid" disease should not be Itakenlfor granted. Now it appears that Jeryl Lynn may become one of the last children in our history ever to be- or to . wail her ballooning cheeks face the discomfort and possible " dangers of this disease. Because a doctor's daughter caught the mumps, your child can now be safe from them forever. -- long-await- ed Family Weekly, October 1, 1987 - |