Medical School Professor Backs Public Health Dept.; "Serum Sound" He Says; Frozen Mixture Explains Concord Epidemic

"The accidents with diphtheria serum at Concord and Bridgewater have not shaken our faith in either the efficacy or the desirability of its use."

This was the statement of both Professor Hans Zinsser of the Medical School, and Dr. Benjamin White, director of the division of the state Department of Public Health which issues the preparation, when a CRIMSON reporter asked them yesterday to discuss the dispute which has raged all week over the serum. The sickness of 60 school children in Bridgewater and Concord, and the decision yesterday of the Boston school committee to continue inoculation reached over the protests of the Medical Liberty League and others, have been the high points in the controversy.

Professor Zinsser corrected the error of Boston newspapers and of Mr. Henry D. Munn of the Medical Liberty League, in referring to the Schick test as the cause of the trouble. The serum originated by Dr. Bela Schick is used to determine the susceptibility of an individual to diphtheria, and has caused no sickness whatsoever. It is the preparation with which individuals known to be susceptible are immunized which has given sore arms to Concord and Bridgewater children.

"This method does protect against diphtheria," said Professor Zinsser. "The policy of continuing its use is sound.

"The accidents at Concord and Bridgewater have been proved definitely to have been due not only to the freezing of the preparation but also to its prolonged duration in the frozen state. This causes the toxin to dissociate from the antitoxin, the latter becoming insoluble, and a small amount of toxin remaining free. This train of circumstances was not known before.

"While it is perfectly comprehensible that the sort of thing which occurred at Concord and Bridgewater should arouse a considerable amount of justifiable anxiety on the part of the public, it is nevertheless the duty of authorities whose only excuse for existence is to prevent disease and suffering, to judge such situations on the basis of eventual good to the community as a whole, and not allow a well-proven instrument of preventive medicine to be destroyed or neglected because of an accident the cause of which is known and therefore under control.

"As one unconnected with the Department off Public Health, I have been through the entire situation with Dr. White and his consultants. The situation has been handled with conscientiousness and serious deliberation, and I am quite sure that nothing has been concealed from the public."

Dr. White stated that the department will continue to issue material from its stocks with every precaution against low temperature. He pointed out that 600 people die of diphtheria in Massachusetts every year, needless deaths which can only be prevented by the use of the serum.