The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

26 The Health Bulletin April, 192:
a more limited usefulness for the immunizing
injections."
From the standpoint of the etiology
of disease, it has been claimed that the
germ of measles has been identified as
a green roducing streptococcus. Dr.
Ferry and his associates believe that
their organism is different from that
previously described by Tunnicliff, that
it produces a specific soluble toxin,
which according to the authors, can be
used for a skin test similar to the
Schick and Dick reactions to distinguish
between immunes and nonimmunes,
and that it is specifically
neutralized by convalescent serum. Dr.
W. H. Pai-k, of New York, however,
has presented data which throw doubt
upon several of the conclusions advanced,
and it is believed the true
significance of this organism in relation
to measles will require much
further work before this important
problem is clarified. The use of convalescent
measles serum in protecting
young children recently exposed to the
disease has been continued in certain
quarters, and the results, especially in
Providence, seem promising.
Protection of children against diphtheria,
(especially children of preschool
age) has been continued in
several quarters on a large scale. Interest
is apparently growing in the
possible substitution for toxin-antitoxin
as an active immunizing agent of
toxoid—or of an anatoxin described by
Ramon. These are toxins which have
been detoxified by exposure to heat and
formaldehyde, or in some similar manner.
For young children, the group with
which we are most vitally concerned,
toxoid seems to offer certain advantages
over toxin-antitoxin.
Activities have been continued for improving
and safeguarding mimicipal
milk supplies, and the importance of
pasteurization has been repeatedly emphasized.
The success of the Chicago
Health Department in securing the
tuberculin testing of all cattle supplying
milk to the city, whether pasteurized
or not, is noteworthy. Several large
cities, including Richmond, Virginia,
have similar regulations. One hundred
cities have adopted the tentative standard
milk ordinance developed by the
United States Public Health Service
which promises to result in greater
uniformity of milk supervision measures.
Measui-es for safeguarding shellfish
from pollution and contamination, as
conducted by the Public Health Service
in cooperation in the Bureau o f
Chemistry and the Bureau of Fisheries,
have resulted in great improvements in
the methods used by the producing
states, and in renewed confidence in the
safety of shellfish on the part of the
consuming states. Reasonably uniform
rules, regulations and methods of enforcement
are being developed which
will result in better observance as well
as in better enforcement.
The Surgeon General of the United
States Public Health Service reports
gratifying progress in the development
of measures for insuring safe drinkingwater
supplies in trains and vessels,
and assistance rendered the National
Park Service in the designing and installation
of sanitary equipment in the
national parks and i n maintaining
proper sanitary conditions in the numerous
camps, hotels, dining-rooms, and
kitchens. The railroads have now practically
completed the installation of the
new type of water coolers for passenger
cars, wherein there is complete separation
of the ice and drinking water.
The vast and increasing number of
sightseers and tourists who come to the
national parks and journey to various
parts of the country makes sanitation
imperative as a measure for the prevention
of the interstate spread of
disease.
The inspection at European ports of
emigrants intending to come to the
United States, which was begun during
the year, is apparently a great success.
There has been no importation of
plague, cholera, yellow fever, or other
major quarantinable disease during the
year. Smallpox is present, to a less
extent,
practically everywhere, the disease
having had a wide prevalence in
the United States among groups unvaccinated,
especially in Florida and
California.
The importance of the public health
nurse in the modern health program
is realized more fully each year, and
advances are being made in the exten-