An outbreak of measles is perhaps, with the exception of smallpox, the most dreaded complication that occurs in a pediatric institution. Measles may appear in the institution at any time and may spread in spite of most careful isolation. The customary methods of prophylaxis are not always effective, and the literature during the past ten years bears testimony to the seriousness of the problem. In 1926, the total mortality of measles in continental United States was reported as 8,607 with a mortality rate of 8.2 per hundred thousand of the estimated population.1 Any practicable method of prevention which can be made generally available should be given an open reception.
The use of human convalescent measles serum and whole blood was probably first advocated by Nicolle and Conseil2 in the literature in 1918. In 1919, Richardson and Connor3 inoculated three children with measles virus and simultaneously injected convalescent