Article originally published in The Baltimore Sun on September 18, 1940. Full article text provided by Newspapers.com below.
Serum Expected To Have War Value By Preventing Pneumonia After Disease
[By the Associated Press]
Philadelphia, Sept. 17 — Discovery of a vaccine for measles was announced today at the bicentennial conference of the University of Pennsylvania.
This vaccine is universal, good for both children and adults, and in war promises to protect soldiers from the fatal attacks of pneumonia which have followed measles outbreaks in military camps.
The vaccine is the first for this almost universal children’s disease, and is the culmination of years of work in numerous laboratories. It was developed by Dr. Joseph Stokes, Jr., of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, and Dr. Geoffrey Rake, of the Squibb Institute, New Brunswick, N. J.
Because of the pneumonia aftermath, measles, it was pointed out, was one of the commonest causes of death of American soldiers in the World War. The disease struck heavily at country lads, who because of isolation had escaped childhood attack.
Human beings, mainly children, were the guinea pigs in the vaccine tests reported today. This unusual use of children was made possible by a peculiarity of measles, namely that it is seldom serious in late spring.
New Jersey and Philadelphia institutions, with the consent of parents, permitted late spring tests. Some children were vaccinated, others not. All then were exposed to measles. All the unvaccinated youngsters caught measles, but not one of those protected by vaccination.
