HAY FEVER CURE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1022, 27 July 1911, Page 4

HAY FEVER CURE.

A SERUM SNUFF. Hay fever (says the medical correspondent of the Daily Mail), which for more than 350 years has defied all attempts of the medical profession to perfect a cure, has finally succumbed to the march of science, A new cure, a “ hay fever serum,” roughly similar to the well-known diphtheria serum, is now ready for use, to relieve thousands from the scourge that brings them weeks of misery every summer. The history of the new preparation, which gave most excellent results last year, both in Germany and America, was given me by a West End physician, who is an acknowledged authority on serum-therapy, or the treatment of diseases by sera made from the specific toxins or poisons 01 the disease; “ Not long ago, Dr Dunbar, a famous German scientist, discovered that hay fever was the result of an irritation of the mucous membrane of the nose, due to the action of the pollen

grains of certain grasses floatingin the air. Dr Dunbar also succeeded in isolating from these pollen grains a poisonous substance which is the actual cause of the unpleasant symptoms ot hay lever. Horses were then used in the preparation of a serum from this pollen poison in exactly the same way as diphtheria serum is obtained from the diphtheria poison. A small dose of the irritant is injected into the tissues of a perfectly healthy horse. He is a trifle upset by the small dose, but speedily recovers. A larger dose is given. Again be is slightly upset, but immediately recovers. The process is continued until a maximum dose of the pollen poison has no effect on him. The curative serum is then prepared by drawing off a certain amount of blood from one of the animal’s veins, separating out the blood cells, and drying the remaining fluid part. Treatment of the hay fever patient consists in sprinkling a few grains of this dried serum on to the nasal mucous membrane with a camel’s hair brush, or dropping it on to the inner surface ot the inner eyelid. Different people, of course, react differently to the serum, but in most cases the dry dust must be applied several times a day for a month or six weeks to give protection throughout the entire summer. The treatment is practically untried in England, but the results in other countries last year were so highly satisfactory that there is certain to be a great demand for it once it is known here.”