The Nome Nugget

WHY WE MUST GIVE TO THE MARCH OF DIMES

The promptness with which gamma globulin was sent to our community last week for the protection of our children means that we must give more than we ever have before so that the supply will be available to other communities in sufficient quantities and whenever needed.

In 16 short years, March of Dimes research has broken through tremendous barriers that once stood between man and the conquest of polio. Step by step, scientists have advanced from the depths of the unknown to the threshold of victory.

Today, plans are being made for what may be the final assault-the practical use of laboratory knowledge to meet the needs of human beings. The breakthrough has been made. The effectiveness of gamma globulin in giving some temporary protection against polio has been demonstrated. Three types of polio virus have been identified as causes of paralysis. Science has learned to grow these viruses rapidly in test tubes for further research. They are being used now to produce a trial vaccine.

Your investment of $20,500,000 in March of Dimes research has created these new and potent weapons for the attack against polio.

The National Foundation now strikes directly at the heart of the polio problem. Its objective is to extend protection against the paralytic disease to the greatest number of people--eventually to all people.

A Polio Prevention Program is possible today because, through MARCH OF DIMES research, science for the first time has in its hands both a limited, temporary preventative agent and a trial vaccine which may provide the final answer to infantile paralysis.

This new and costly operation marks an historic turning point in the fight against polio. Polio Prevention has passed all tests in the laboratory. Scientists feel that they now can move safely to the human body.

If their new weapons can blunt the destructive force of the virus on this final proving ground, polio will be conquered.

The attack has been launched in two directions. First, tests of a trial vaccine will be conducted on a massive scale, with the participation of hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren. Secondly, because the results of the vaccine trials cannot be evaluated before another polio season has passed, every possible use will be made of the blood fraction gamma globulin to halt the spread of epidemics.

In the meantime, the National Foundation is preparing to make maximum use of the blood fraction gamma globulin as a limited and temporary protective agent against polio. MARCH OF DIMES research has proved that GG, used in mass inoculations at the proper time, can effectively reduce the number of polio cases among those inoculated. In 1953, this scarce product of human blood was distributed under strict government regulation. Your National Foundation used $5,500,000 in MARCH OF DIMES funds to increase available supplies of gamma globulin, contributing substantially to the nation's stockpile.

Looking ahead to the needs of 1954, the National Foundation already has taken steps to double the amount of GG that will be available. With MARCH OF DIMES funds, it has financed the development of new blood-processing facilities and has contracted with commercial houses to purchase their entire output of the serum. Since the government probably will control the rationing of GG in 1954, these supplies again will be contributed to the general pool for distribution by state and local health officers throughout the nation.