PLAGUE INOCULTION.

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume II, Issue 140, 3 May 1900, Page 3

PLAGUE INOCULTION.

In November, 1895, a commission ■was set iij) by the Government of India to make an exhaustive investigation of matteis relating to the bubonic plague. The complete report is not yet ready, but that portion vhich deals with Professor ILafi'kine's sjstom of anti-plague inoculation has been published. The Commission adopts as the basis of mvobi^gauoii that tne e.so'jntial points in au anti-plague varoine are : firstly, that it shaU be capable of preventing, or favourably modifying, attacks of plague ; secondly, tha-o it shall be capable of conferring an eriecfc which will la^fc sum 1 time; thirdly, that it shaU be capable of producing these good results without entailing any evil consoqnencs, Ah si-plague inoculation is admittedly stiil m its infancy, and the report shows that on some poi.us, ut least, the evidence is still incomplete. But the Government of India is able to declare emphatically thai it " regards it as established that inoculation sensibly lessens liability to the plague, and greatly increases the chances of recovery from any attack of the disease." The work of the Commis&ion makes it clear that no fear of injury and disease from the use of Haffkine's vaccine need be entertained. Isolated cases were found, in which long-continued reaction at the seat of inoculation and c msideriibk lever existed, but in these instances the subjects were admittedly unhealthy. It was alleged that death had occurred soon after inoculation in some districts, but the closest investigation failed to reveal more than one or two such cases, and then plagiie had already been contracted. At the same time, it was found that it is not s advisable for persons .newly inoculated to continue in an infected area, or to return to it for two or three days. It is not claimed that the vaccine confers complete immunity from plague ; but there is no doubt that an inoculated person has far greater chances of escaping infection than an uninoculated subject. The Commission is unable to determine how long the protection lasts. It seems probable that it has a duration of seveia.l months, but the maximum period cau only be determined by further observation. In publishing the results of the investigation, the Government states that inoculation should be encouraged wherever possible, in particular among disinfecting staffs and attendants of plague bospitß.'S.