PEDIATRICS Vol. 6 No. 5 November 1950, pp. 696-705
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POSSIBILITIES OF SPECIFIC PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF POLIOMYELITIS

WILLIAM MCD. HAMMON M.D., DR. P.H.1

1 The George Williams Hooper Foundation for Medical Research, University of California, San Francisco.

Particular emphasis is placed on possibilities of passive immunization, because it is felt that this offers practical and theoretic advantages over active immunization. A vaccine is not available at present and may never be available in adequate quantities for all immunologic types or at reasonable cost. Furthermore, if an inactivated vaccine is used, annual revaccination for duration of life might logically ensue. Experimental work has demonstrated the effectiveness of serum prophylaxis in animals and has been given field trials in man, the results of which are suggestive but inconclusive. Gamma globulin from adults should contain antibody to all prevalent types and has been shown to be active in monkeys against three types. It has been used on a small scale as a human prophylactic agent but not on an experimental basis. Gamma globulin, on the basis of inadequate experiment and epidemiologic reasoning, might not prevent infection, though it would be expected to prevent clinical disease. If this proves to be a fact, it would not prevent the development of permanent immunity through inapparent infection, a decided practical advantage. Its use would be recommended only during epidemic years and for only the more susceptible age groups. Dosage and interval would have to be determined. Since gamma globulin is now available, it is felt that a carefully controlled field experiment to determine its effectiveness is in order. There is still no evidence that a serum, gamma globulin or other immunologic agent, has any therapeutic effect, or abortive effect, once illness has begun.

So far, no report of a reliable nature has appeared for a practical therapeutic or prophylactic antibiotic or chemotherapeutic agent against poliomyelitis. However, developments in this field as applied to rickettsial diseases and a few other virus diseases lead to considerable optimism. It is believed that the most likely final control methods will be developed along these lines.

Submitted on February 1, 1950




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C. R. Rinaldo Jr
Passive Immunization Against Poliomyelitis: The Hammon Gamma Globulin Field Trials, 1951-1953
Am J Public Health, May 1, 2005; 95(5): 790 - 799.
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