PEDIATRICS Vol. 47 No. 1 January 1971, pp. 135-137
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Fatal Staphylococcal Septicemia Associated with Use of Jet Injector for Measles Vaccination

Ira Kassanoff M.D.1, Andre J. Nahmias M.D.1, and Elias Abrutyn M.D.1

1 Epidemiology Program, Center for Disease Control, Health Services and Mental Health Administration, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30333

Since 1956, when the jet injector was first used extensively for mass immunization, more than 100 million persons have received various vaccines by this method.1 Jet injectors have been used under crude field conditions as well as in the clinic-hospital environment. However, to the authors' knowledge, there have been no reports of lethal septic complications associated with the use of the jet injector gun.1,2

This report describes a fatal case of staphylococcal septicemia temporally associated with measles vaccine administration via jet injector, and calls attention to a severe, albeit infrequent, complication of jet injection.

Case Report

On October 23, 1968, during a community-wide campaign, a 2frac12-year-old Negro girl, previously in good health, received further attenuated (Schwarz) live measles virus vaccine via jet injector in the left deltoid region.