Who invented the tetanus vaccine?  So far I've found, on a Merck
website, that it was invented in 1927 during WWI.  However, no mention
of who the inventor was.  It's 6th grade report time, that's why I
need to know.  Report is due Friday.  Help.

Dear dernie-ga,
That is a very good question. The history of tetanus is very long and
people have know the cause of this disease since Kitasato isolated the
bacterium in 1889. My summary of the information below is taken from
the following webpage.

http://gskvaccines.com/vaccines/pages/disease_summary.jsp?disease=TETANUS

It appears that the tetanus toxoid and its use as a vaccine was
described by Descombey in 1924. In other words the tetanus toxoid is
what is in the tetanus vaccine. The tetanus toxoid is a chemically
treated form of the tetanus toxin (a protein) made by the bacterium
Clostridium tetani. However, the toxoid's ability to cause the disease
tetanus has been destroyed by putting it in a chemical. This chemical
does not destroy the important parts of the toxin that tell our immune
system to make antibodies to the toxin. When a person is injected
(immunized or vaccinated) with the tetanus vaccine (toxoid) the body
makes antibodies to the tetanus toxoid which will also react with the
tetanus toxin.

Say for instance a person immunized with the tetanus vaccine is hurt
(steps on a dirty nail) and the bacterium makes the tetanus toxin in
the wound of the person. Their body already has antibodies made that
will get rid of the toxin before it can cause disease. Experiments in
World War II demonstrated the tetanus vaccine actually could prevent
the disease tetanus.

The source for this information was from the following book:
Epidemiology and Prevention of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases. The Pink
Book. 6th Edition. January 2000.

Hope that helps and I hope your teacher likes your report.
nealc-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by dernie-ga on 10 Oct 2002 12:03 PDT

The answer is a pretty good summary of the tetanus issue, but that is
not what I asked about.  I asked WHO invented it, if anyone: perhaps
it was developed in a govt lab by anonymous researchers.  The link
brought me to a GlaxoSmithKline site which mentioned a few people who
were involved in the R&D of tetanus and the vaccination process:
including Kitasato, Nocard, and Descombey who finally "described" the
current tetanus toxoid used to vaccinate.  I guess it was sort of a
group effort?

---

Clarification of Answer by nealc-ga on 10 Oct 2002 14:33 PDT

Descombey in 1924 was credited as the discoverer of the tetanus vaccine.

the answer was a pretty good summary of the tetanus issue, but that is
not what i asked about.  I asked WHO invented it, if anyone, perhaps
it was developed in a govt lab by anonymous researchers.  The link
brought me to a GlaxoSmithKline site which mentioned a few people who
were involved in the R&D of tetanus and the vaccination process:
including Kitasato, Nocard, and Descombey who finally "described" the
current tetanus toxoid used to vaccinate.  I guess it was sort of a
group effort?