VACCINATION.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1815, 30 July 1913, Page 11

VACCINATION.

Sir,—l read with some interest a letter published in your is?uo of July 23 by a gentleman wiw styles himself AntiHumbug. ,J Ho is anxious, it appenrs, H kiKMv hnw many p u,^'c vaccinators have themselves been vaccinated. I can «nly speak for myself in this respect. I was rovaccinated when in London in !M2, during the smallpox epidemic, at which, time I happened to bo practising

in Whitechapel, in which district the smallpox wns very prevalent; and during the last fortnight I havo revaccinated myself twice. It has not taken effect yet. And lam of opinion that I am still immune, and that the affects of tho raccino I used in 1002 are still in my system. Of course, it seems a curious tiling that a public vaccinator should not be vaccinated, nor his family. But do;s that iact nc-cessarily render him iiir competent to perform the operation on others? For that ■is what your correspondent seems to imply. Surely, if tnat were the case, it would be necessary for a surgeon to first cut otf his own leg before amputating that of a patient. With regard to the immunity rendered by vaccinatum, it is very hard to give a. stated tmo for it to remain in one's system. In my-'own case, it has apparently- remained for-eleveu years. In 100-2 I revaccinated my partner, who had been done four years previously, seven times, but I got no result. And as only a very small percentage of. people come in actnal, contact with pc-oplo who have smallpox it is hard to know how long they aro immune. It can only bo based on tho fact of how , long after vaccination revaccination will be effectual; and from j what I have <ecn and heard, I am inclined to think that seven years, or possibly loaiger, is tlu> time that vaccination is capable of rendering or.o immune from smallpox. I have no wish to challenge'tho theories of tho anti-vaccinationists in any shape whatsoever.. Everyone is free to hold his own opinion. Nor would I presume to put forward arguinents. that have already been' thrashed out many times by both sides. But I would like, if I may en-croach-on your space, to mention a few facts that may bo of interest to your readers. I had a case of a man who worked at Crosby Hall in "Loudon during the. 1902 epidemic. He happened to ho the only one in that works who objected to be vaccinated. ' I was called to see him one evening. He was very ill. Had a very high temperature, but ho had no .signs which would help me to give any definite diagnosis. Ho had then been ill only a few hours. I railed and saw him the next morning. By that time he had developed Hemorrhagic smallpox in its worst form. I vaccinated him at once. But felt it was like locking the stable when the horse had gone. This man only lived ten days. I remember my father mentioning to me two facts from two old documents he had come across in the Public Record Ofiice of London. ■ In one of them was a description of a very beautiful court lady of the time of Queen Elizabeth. In it it stated that "strange tn say sho was not marked with the smallpox." In the ether was the description of a lady of about tho same period. It stated that "she had hnd chicketinox, measles, and smallpox and other diseases that were incidental to childhood-." I think these documents show how common the disease was in those days, and that hardly anyone escaped-it. With regard to the plea of tho antivacciriationists, I consider, ami so, .of course, does everyone, that there was a time when they had a very real cause of complaint • against vaccination. One was arm-to-arm vaccination. This is now illegal. Another was Ih p. bad aftereffects of vaccination in old times. But if we look back to the days previous to the discovery of antiseptic surgery by the late Lord Lister, oik* can easily see how bad effects came about. We did not then know how to destroy germs, and consequently the arms may often have beon infected with serins on the knife or needle, which we did not know how t/> ramove. Now everv aim is first rendered surgically clean and n sterilised needle is used, and ope for each nerson; and tho lymph is sterilised. All this was unknown in the old days. J have never, in my own experience at Home, had n case of bad arm from vaccination. s I trust that I shall not have ono in any of ,the cases I have vaccinated in New Zealand. This, I feel sure, is due to taking great care to' render the vaccination perfectly .inf.'.-eptic. For. considering I was vaccinating in. London's ,poorest quarter, I might well'have looked forcasjs suffering from the'effects of uiidemlincss. I hono these few facts may lie of interest to your readers, and that they ma,y have more faith in what I consider a great protect''™ and palliativo for a fearful disease.—l am, etc., G. STUART MOORE. M.R.C.S. (Eng.), L.R.C.P. (Lond.). . Public Vaccinator, Johneouvilli!.