Letter from Colin M. MacLeod to United States Army, Office of the Surgeon General

Letter from Colin M. MacLeod to United States Army, Office of the Surgeon General

Contributor(s):
United States. Department of the Army. Office of the Surgeon General
MacLeod, Colin M. (Colin Munro), 1909-1972
Publication:
Produced: 3 July 1944
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Vaccines
Clinical Trials as Topic
Pneumococcal Infections
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Letters (correspondence)
Abstract:
During World War II Heidelberger developed a simple vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonia, like other infectious diseases a serious health threat among soldiers. The Pneumonia Commission of the Board for the Investigation and Control of Influenza and Other Infectious Diseases within the Office of the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, headed by Colin MacLeod, a microbiologist and co-discoverer of the genetic properties of DNA, organized a trial of the vaccine in 1944, as described in this memorandum. 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 was effective against the disease.
Copyright:
The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
Extent:
3 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584940X52 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
DHBBDN
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X52
Archival Collection:
The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)