Globulin-Modified, Live Attenuated Measles-Virus Vaccination

Introduction The capacity of specific antibody to alter the course of measles virus infection in susceptible human beings has been known for many years. Thus, serum obtained from convalescent patients was employed by Nicolle and Conseil to prevent and even treat measles as early as 1918. 1 Subsequently, fractionation of normal human serum by Cohn and his colleagues 2 yielded a predominantly globulin component of serum which was found to be very effective in the prevention and attenuation of overt disease. Controlled studies revealed further that modification of measles could best be accomplished when globulin was administered at the rate of 0.025 ml. per pound of body weight. 3 Attenuation of naturally occurring measles has been difficult to measure in terms of clinically overt evidence, and the absence of adequate laboratory methods for assessing immune status after the administration of globulin has been a major disadvantage to this method of