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8 5- 9 9 APR 1 5 1985
Page 2
Vaccination stations were set up at strategic locations in both Starr and Hidalgo
Counties. The Hidalgo County Health Department served both as the principal station
and the vaccine distribution center. Volunteers were recruited to help with the
detail work. Cameron County, although not directly involved, also began a vigorous
vaccination campaign.
Then more trouble arose. Fifty thousand points of vaccine supplied by the State
Health Department were gone in a few days. Reserve stocks were quickly filled inrLo
the sliver-thin glass containers and made ready for distribution, but the sharp
demands in the Valley and other parts of the state still could not be met. Local
hatcheries came to the rescue with 333 eleven-day-old fertile eggs. Laboratory
technicians went to work inoculating the membranes on which the smallpox virus
readily grows. Within a week, after harvesting and precisely treating the virus, a
large supply of vaccine was again on hand. A few days later a shortage of capillary
points threatened to create another bottleneck; but fortunately a supply was located
before it became necessary to distribute the vaccine in bulk.
The main rush for vaccinations came in the five-day period between March 13 and 18.
More than 106,000 persons passed through the clinics in Hidalgo County, 103,000 in
Cameron County, and 30,000 in Starr County.
Where the original infection came from is still a mystery. Epidemiologists reasoned
that since WP and HB became ill the same week they had been infected from the same
source, but this was never proved. Mrs. B apparently was infected by her husband
when he came to visit her in the hospital as she recuperated from surgery. Likewise,
their son and the physician were also infected by Mr. B. The county commissioner
probably got his infection from WP on occasions when he visited with a friend in the 4
same hospital.
MM, the labor crew foreman, conscientiously saw to it that all his workers were
vaccinated but refused to be vaccinated himself, insisting he had had smallpox years
before. As for CG, the vagrant, a few pustules were found on him when he was jailed
for theft of some clothes. Epidemiologists theorized that the clothes were the
source of his infection.
Of all the known victims, only CG had been previously vaccinated. And even with a
time lapse of 12 years between his vaccination and exposure, his case was relatively
mild. Mr. B's son had twice missed school vaccinations -- once because of an
accident and once due to an illness. But both his brothers had been protected, and
although heavily exposed, they escaped the infection.
This most recent outburst of a once-great killer provides an object lesson for us
all: we are never free of the menace of smallpox. It is ironic that hospital
personnel were involved, but perhaps the irony was offset somewhat by the successful
use of the unique and economical new vaccine, manufactured by the Texas State
Department of Health.
PDN Editorial Note:
On October 9, 1979, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the
eradication of smallpox worldwide. Well-organized surveillance and outbreak control
measures had made this dream a reality in our time. The WHO maintains an intensive
post-eradication surveillance program and rapidly investigates suspect cases. Thus
far, all such cases have been found to be diseases other than smallpox.
The author of the 1956 article noted irony in that hospital personnel were involved
as victims of the disease. To us, it is not irony but either extraordinary naivety,
commonplace stupidity, or godlike illusions of invulnerability for persons at known
