ACTIVE IMMUNIZATION OF WOMEN IN PREGNANCY FOR PREVENTION OF NEONATAL TETANUS

The authors started a field study in August 1961 with a view to establishing a practicable and effective active immunization schedule to ensure a level of tetanus antitoxin in the pregnant woman sufficient to give protection to newborn babies against tetanus.A fluid and an adsorbed toxoid were used in a total of 377 women. Some 88% and 47% of the cord blood samples from women receiving three doses of adsorbed toxoid and fluid toxoid respectively, had a protective titre of 0.01 IU/ml or more. When they were contacted late in pregnancy and received only one or two doses of toxoid, antitoxin titres were lower both in venous blood and in cord blood.The authors also discuss the administrative and organizational problems of such an immunization programme.