STUDIES IN WHOOPING COUGH

Abstract

Three hundred thousand¹is a conservative estimate of the annual number of cases of whooping cough in this country, and the disease is responsible for 15 per cent of the deaths among infants whom it attacks. The great need for a method of early diagnosis, for effective quarantine and for preventive measures for those who have been exposed has been stressed.² The problem that presents itself may therefore be summarized as follows: What aid in diagnosis may be expected from hematologic studies? Can a typical blood picture be produced with pertussis vaccine? Will agglutination tests assist in early diagnosis? Does the blood of patients with whooping cough show complement fixation with Bacillus pertussis as the antigen? If complement fixation is present with whooping cough, is it possible to produce it artificially? If complement fixation can be produced artificially, does it confer immunity against