A Family History Question...?

Question

I am looking to try and find quite a specific event.

My Nan now lives in the Wirral, but used to live in Liverpool until she was about 40.

She was born in 1930, and somewhere between the ages of 2-5 (1932-1935) she became one of the first childen in the country to recieve the treatment for Diptheria. She seems to think it included the insertion of a 'monkey bone' in her throat?

She had her photo taken and she was featured in a local newspaper, however we are unsure which one, and this is what we are trying to find.

We have done some research previously over in Liverpool library, and looked through some editions of the Liverpool Echo, and had no luck.

So I was wondering if anyone has any further information on this? Does anyone know when the first diptheria treatments were administered, as this could help us narrow the search down to an exact year?

Or does anyone know of a good way of trying to find this picture in the newspaper?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Answer 1

Was she named Hilda Rose/ National Archives has something (3rd in list)

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/acces...

Answer 2

http://www.emedicine.com/ped/topic596.ht...

In England and Wales, as recently as 1937-1938, diphtheria was second only to pneumonia among all causes of death in children, with an annual death rate of 32 per 100,000 in children younger than 15 years.

http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/b...  bacteriologist

http://www.ingenious.org.uk/Read/Health/...

(The diphtheria vaccine, which was invented in 1892, came into widespread use in the UK in1942.)

http://www.rds-online.org.uk/pages/page....

Nationwide vaccination against diphtheria

Despite use of the antitoxin, death rates from diphtheria were still high in the early 1900s. In the 1940s, the disease was still affecting 50,000 people a year in the UK. The need for a vaccine was clear. In 1913 von Behring had produced long lasting immunity in guinea pigs, monkeys and asses using a carefully balanced mixture of toxin and antitoxin.4 This was used in limited studies to protect humans, but widespread immunisation only began after the development of formalin-inactivated toxin by A T Glenny and Barbara Hopkins5 and Gaston Ramon6 in the early 1920s. Standardisation was required, and this was carried out using guinea pigs.7

Adoption of the diphtheria vaccine was patchy from the mid-20s onwards. Reported successes from various local health districts eventually led to acceptance across Britain, and widespread vaccination began in 1941, when the death rate from diphtheria was about 10 per 100,000 population. Over the following 10 years the incidence of diphtheria dropped to virtually zero.

http://www.sanofipasteur.com/sanofi-past...

n 1923, Alexander Glenny and Barbara Hopkins demonstrated that formol can be used to eradicate the virulence of diphtheria toxin. In the same year, Gaston Ramon discovered that the product of degradation of diphtheria toxin by formaldehyde is devoid of toxicity but conserves its specific immunogenic power [Ref 6 p 212]. The vaccines obtained by this type of chemical treatment are known as anatoxins, “toxoids” or “formalin-toxoids” in the English-speaking countries.

http://www.the-roaring-twenties.com/medi...

Has details of the disease

Bickerton, T.H. , A Medical History of Liverpool, Liverpool, (1936) Maybe of use

http://www.btinternet.com/~m.royden/mrlh...

Just found that there are two lists of vaccinated kids here

http://archive.liverpool.gov.uk/dserve.e...

Answer 3

The Diptheria vaccine was first used experimentally in the 1920's, but was not widely given until 1941

http://www.rds-online.org.uk/pages/page....