Gewin J (1908)

Chlorkalzium gegen die Serumkrankheit [Calcium chloride against serum sickness]. Muenchener Medizinische Wochenshcrift 50:2670-2671.

Key passage(s)

Gewin-1908-kp1 Gewin-1908-kp2

Translation

“Of the 200 patients who were all treated (injected) S p r o n c k‘s  anti-diphtherial serum, one half (even numbers) received calcium, the other half (uneven numbers) [did] not [receive it], without considering gender, age or [the severity of] the throat affection. As much as possible the children were given in the same order the serum which was given on that same date [day]; thereby we wanted to achieve that the children of one of the two groups (categories) did not receive per chance a very poisonous serum. It is well known that the serum from a given horse shows often – frequently only for a short time – more side-effects than the serum from other horses. In order to eliminate these nocuous side-effects, S p o r c k  mixes the sera from several horses and warms them during half an hour up to 56 – 57°C. Of our 200 patients 92 were female and 108 male. The case histories of those who died (9=4.3%) were not considered [for the analysis]. The distribution according to the age was: 1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     <10     years 26    31   26   36    24   15    9     8     7      4        14    number Approximately half of the children in each age group received calcium chloride, the other half not.”

Translation by Ulrich Tröhler