Scarlet fever serum was used beginning in November 1900 after its development in the Sero-Therapeutic Laboratory of Rudolph Hospital in Vienna, Austria. The serum was taken from the blood of horses. Infected children were injected in their abdominal skin by Dr. Paul Moser. Mortality rates from scarlet fever (also known as scarlatina) declined significantly following the use of the blood serum. Moser at first used scarlet fever serum primarily on the most severely sick persons. After achieving positive results it was applied in the first or second day following contraction of scarlet fever. In many cases the children treated demonstrated great improvement in a very short time, with their fevers going away quickly. Moser worked with four hundred children suffering from scarlatina at St. Anne's Hospital. The

mortality rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular Statistical population, population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically ...

of those he treated was 8.9%. This compared quite favorably when measured against the 13.09% among children in Vienna hospitals where the scarlet fever serum was not administered. Moser's

antitoxin An antitoxin is an antibody with the ability to neutralize a specific toxin. Antitoxins are produced by certain animals, plants, and bacterium, bacteria in response to toxin exposure. Although they are most effective in neutralizing toxins, the ...

reduced the mortality of scarlet fever by 40%. At no time was the volume of serum available sufficient. As of November 1902 a strong concentrated scarlet fever serum was unavailable.

Later serums 1903–1930

Dr. Aronson, a bacteriologist who worked at the Emperor and Empress Frederick Children's Hospital of

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

, used a scarlet fever serum with positive results in early 1903. Specialists at the

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Board of Health claimed that Aronson was administering a scarlet fever serum which they had discovered. Aronson may have been the first to successfully segregate the scarlet fever

bacillus ''Bacillus'', from Latin "bacillus", meaning "little staff, wand", is a genus of Gram-positive, rod-shaped bacteria, a member of the phylum ''Bacillota'', with 266 named species. The term is also used to describe the shape (rod) of other so-sh ...

. Perhaps this was a result of a micrococcus obtained from throat cultures. However, bacteriologists in the United States had been unsuccessful in similar experiments around this time. In July 1923 it was announced that two Italian scientists, Giovanni di Cristina and Giuseppe Carolla of

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, had isolated the scarlet fever germ and developed a serum. Dr. A. Raymond Dochez (1882 – June 30, 1964), a native of San Francisco, California, is credited with discovering a serum cure for scarlet fever at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, while he was a researcher there in 1924. His antitoxin was developed following six years of study. In

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, husband and wife Gladys and George Frederick Dick also developed an antitoxin and test for scarlet fever in 1924. A Romanian scientist, Prince Cantacuzene, said that scarlet fever was far from conquered in July 1930. His own experiments with streptococcus led him to believe that scarlet fever was not a manifestation of the streptococcus bacillus. However, he thought that streptococcus might work as a conduit for the true scarlet fever bacillus. He contended that serums obtained from persons convalescing from scarlet fever were more effective than ones prepared from horse cultures.''Scarlet Fever Far From Conquered'', New York Times, July 23, 1930, pg. 10.

References

{{reflist, 2 Vaccines 1900 in biology Scarlet fever