Word: phs
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...Then PHS and Capital began second-guessing. Had the volatilized virus been circulated by the plane's ventilating system? Nobody could be sure. Capital ordered the plane back to Washington for decontamination by the Army Chemical Corps and phoned the 22 Pittsburgh passengers, advising them to take the same shots as Salk had recommended for the crew. It advised the 124 later passengers to get a checkup with a physician, at Capital's expense...
...PHS's Surgeon General Dr. Leonard Scheele then read a report by his technical committee on the most recent steps to make the vaccine safer. There were "striking differences," said Scheele, in "the degree of clarity of the different fluids" from which the various manufacturers have prepared vaccine. After the virus is grown in a broth of monkey-kidney tissue and left standing, a sediment may appear at the bottom of the flasks. The sediment is like lumps in porridge. When formaldehyde is added to kill the virus, it cannot reach the particles in the middle of the lumps...
...vaccine against only one of the 13 known, closely related viruses would have no value for general prescription use, so the researchers have high hopes that they will soon achieve similar success with two of its kin, Types 4 and 7. Then a polyvalent vaccine would be practicable. But PHS researchers sadly admit that there is still nothing in sight of any earthly use to ward off the common cold...
...through late October, the Public Health Service predicted last week that the 1955 U.S. polio epidemic will prove to have been the lightest in four years. So far reported: 25,727 cases v. 33,078 for the same period in 1954. Projecting to the calendar year's end.* PHS foresaw a total of about 29,000 cases-in the same range as 1951's low tally of 28,386. Equally encouraging: the polio mortality rate in 1955 is expected to be the lowest in several years, with 750 to 800 deaths v. 1,500 last year...
...correct process is using just the right amount of formaldehyde and letting the brew simmer for just the right duration; too much or too long may cook the virus to a point where the vaccine is useless, while the opposite may allow live virus to remain. Under the new PHS safety procedures, manufacturers must make numerous tests on large batches of the formaldehyde-virus broth (only small samples were tested before). Now samples of every batch of vaccine are submitted to PHS laboratories (earlier, PHS examined mostly written reports...