Word: diphtheria
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...seriously. Out to survey Colorado's health came two doctors from the American Public Health Association, backed by money from the Commonwealth Fund. They found that: 1) Colorado had the third worst record among the states in per capita deaths from scarlet fever, was almost as bad in diphtheria, pneumonia, infant mortality; 2) in five years more than 1,600 Coloradans (in a population of 1,123,296) had died unnecessarily of preventable diseases...
From the U.S. Public Health Service last week came a warning: diphtheria is on the rise. The number of cases, 10,335 so far this year, was not alarming, but it was some 2,500 above the recent norm, reversed a 25-year trend...
...health officials disagree with the current British theory: that more dangerous new strains of diphtheria bacilli have developed, in the U.S., the standard treatments-immunization with toxoid injections, therapy with antitoxin-are still effective...
Officials think the rise may be due to 1) a slackening in immunization, 2) an increase in vulnerability among young adults (many recent diphtheria deaths have been among returning G.I.s). By Army figures, about half of those in the 19-to-30 age group are susceptible. Their immunization is a problem because diphtheria inoculations often make grownups seriously...
Immunization of children is compulsory in fewer than a fourth of the states. To be safe, a child should get two diphtheria shots at six months, a third before starting school...