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

May, 1951The Health Bulletincine (should Include 15 billion pertussisorganisms).3 months—Conference. Second injectionD-T-P.4 months—Conference. Third injectionD-T-P.5 months—Conference. Vaccinationagainst smallpox.6 months—Conference and examination.Record result of smallpox vaccinationand revaccinate if necessary.7% months—Conference.9 months—Conference.12-18 months—Conference and examination.Booster dose D-T-P.School entrance—Examination. Boosterdose D-T-P. Revaccinate againstsmallpox.If the intervals between injections exceedthe one specified, continue theimmunization schedule xmchanged.When typhoid vaccine is administered,the following dosage is recommendedfor adults: 0.5c.c. weekly for threedoses. This should be reduced proportionatelyfor infants and children. Annualbooster doses of O.lc.c. intradermaUyshould follow the primary immimlzation.The booster injection may begiven subcutaneously, if preferred, usinga dose of 0.5c.c. for adults and less forchildren.OUR ENEMY — THE RATBy Charles M. WhitePrincipal Sanitary EngineerDivision of Sanitary EngineeringState Board of Health, Raleigh, North CarolinaHow Rats Destroy UsAs far back into antiquity as recordsgo, mankind and rats have waged anever-ceasing war. During some periodsof this struggle the rats have, in somecountries, been on the verge of completevictory by the total annihilationof their adversaries. Yet, there hasnever been a time when the exterminationof rats has been regarded as apossibility by the most hopeful.Nature endowed both rats and manwith powers of adaptability not possessedby any other living things. Bothhave manifested the ability to surviveand reproduce their kind in almost anyearthly clime. Each is omnivorous, ferocious,and completely destructive of naturalresources including all forms oflife. The life span of man Is longerbut in rats this is compensated for bya far more rapid rate of reproduction.In spite of aU oiu- efforts toward rateradication or reduction, the populationof these rodents keeps pace with that ofman. Experts estimate the number ofrats in the United States to be approximatelythe same as that of the humanpopulation.The black death, or bubonic plague,which swept across Europe in successiveepidemics from the fourteenth to theeighteenth century, was transmitted byrat fleas from rats to human beings.No greater calamity has occurred inhistory, including the world wars, the1917-18 influenza epidemic and othermajor disasters. It is estimated thatone-fourth of the European populationor at least 25,000,000 people died of thedisease. Mass hysteria and other psychologicaleffects, as well as generaldisorder and social disintegration, causedeconomic, moral and political degradationto follow. While this diseasehas never become widespread In theUnited States, there have been recorded505 cases during the present century.Of these 318 died. None of them occurredin North Carolina.Endemic typhus fever, another maladywhich is transmitted from rats tohuman beings by rat fleas, does occurin North Carolina. From 1929 through