Letter from Richard G. Hodges, United States Army Air Forces to Michael Heidelberger

Letter from Richard G. Hodges, United States Army Air Forces to Michael Heidelberger

Contributor(s):
Heidelberger, Michael
United States. Army Air Forces
Hodges, Richard G.
Publication:
Produced: 2 January 1945
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Pneumonia
Vaccines
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Letters (correspondence)
Abstract:
During World War II Heidelberger served as a member of the Pneumonia Commission established by the Board for the Investigation and Control of Influenza and Other Infectious Diseases (later the Army Epidemiological Board) under the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army. The Commission, headed by Colin MacLeod, a microbiologist and co-discoverer of the genetic properties of DNA, organized a trial of a vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonia developed by Heidelberger. The trial, carried out among 20,000 trainees at an air base in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, proved that a vaccine made from a mixture of purified capsular polysaccharides from four different types of pneumococcus (types I, II, V, and VII) provided effective protection against pneumonia when compared with a control group which received saline solution, and which had a higher incidence of the disease. As Hodges, who oversaw the study on site, reported in this letter, not a single soldier who had been immunized had contracted the disease, compared with ten who had been given saline solution.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
Extent:
1 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584940X173 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
DHBBLN
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X173
Archival Collection:
The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)