Medicine: Asian Flu, U.S. Style

The number of reported Asian flu cases in the U.S. passed 100,000 last week as the disease spread to 37 states. The Public Health Service reports 14 people dead of reactions “associated with Asian flu.” Only in Mississippi, with 24,600 cases, was there evidence of an epidemic, but other states may not be far behind. Most strongly affected so far were schools. At the University of Colorado, 670 students (out of 9,733) were bedded. Texas Christian University at Fort Worth estimated that 700 students out of 5,400 were down with flu; many high school football games all over the state were canceled.

As the flu spread, an allergist in Philadelphia raised the possibility that greatly reduced vaccine doses can supply adequate protection if injected into the skin instead of under it. Writing in Philadelphia Medicine, Dr. Louis Tuft of Temple University reports that, on the basis of limited experiments by Walter Reed’s Dr. Maurice Hilleman, one-tenth the present dose given intracutaneously produces approximately the same antibody response as the present recommended dose given subcutaneously. Suggested reason: vaccine injected into the skin is absorbed more slowly, and cells have more time to respond to it.

Tuft, who introduced a similar method with typhoid vaccine in 1931, recommends doses of of 1 cc. for adults, between 0.05 cc. and 0.02 cc. for children (v. subcutaneous doses of 1 cc. for adults, 0.5 to 0.2 for children).

The new method, which is being studied further at New York Hospital, the University of Miami and other research centers, could stretch existing supplies many times (the Public Health Service reports 85 million cc. will be available by Jan. 1). Drawback: though long practiced by allergists, the intracutaneous technique is difficult, not well known to many U.S. G.P.s.