By Michael Dorausch, DC Where is medical science today on wiping out all forms of the flu? The news is volcanic this week with Swine Flu pandemic outbreak stories, not just in the United States, but worldwide. Wearing surgical masks, using hand sanitizer, and frequent washing of hands in hot soapy water, is an activity that has increased amongst many in the affected populations this past week. News reports of antiviral agents, scientific flu medications, and the creation of new flu vaccines that will stop the swine flu strain, have been prevalent in the discussion. This isn't the first time flu vaccine science has made the news, and it certainly won't be the last.
I came across this newspaper clipping from 1941. It was tucked inside a chiropractic textbook I acquired several years ago. A few of the terms in the article were highlighted using a pencil, that's the way I found it. With all the flu vaccine mentions in the news, I thought it appropriate to make this historical piece of information available online. The image below is a scan of the newspaper clipping, and the content that follows is what appeared in the news on July 29, 1941.
Experiment in U.S. Navy Tests New Influenza Vaccine
SAN DIEGO, Calif., July 29 -- A new anti-influenza vaccine -- described as perhaps the most promising that has come to the attention of medical scientists -- is being tested on several thousand US sailors in a mass experiment under Navy supervision.
Through this vaccine, doctors hope to wipe out the deadly disease which, in recurring epidemics, has proven to be a more ruthless killer than war itself. In 1918, influenza swept the world and killed an estimated 30,000,000 persons.
Bluejackets inoculated in the mass test are stationed at San Diego and in the San Francisco Bay area.
"We won't know finally what may be expected from the vaccine until an actual epidemic comes along," said Commander Albert Paul Krueger, bacteriologist directing the experiment.
"This is the first mass vaccine test of its kind," said Dr. Krueger. "Our investigations were made possible through discovery in 1923 that influenza was a virus disease, and isolation of the virus.
"To show the great importance of stamping out this disease, it is well to recall that in the World war there were 550,000 men in the Navy. One out of every four caught influenza. Some ships actually were disabled by illness. Army figures on the same epidemic were colossal."
Dr. Krueger said vaccine was derived from a relatively simple process. Influenza serum is introduced into chick embryo. Resulting fluid is inactivated with a solution of formaldehyde and the final solution is used for the inoculation.
