Pearl Kendrick--A Woman Who Fought Whooping Cough

At one time, whooping cough plagued children as one of the most harmful diseases known. In Michigan alone from 1932 to 1936, 732 children died from the sickness. Twenty years later, the number of deaths had plummetted to 50. The success for bringing whooping cough under control must be traced primarily to the development of the pertussis vaccine. And the person perhaps most responsible for the development of the medicine is Dr. Pearl Kendrick. Now a leeturer emeritus of epidemiology at the U-M School of Public Health, it was she who, more than 30 years ago, headed a research project which developed the medication. Sitting at her desk in a laboratory office at the School of Public Health, the small, white-haired woman recalled the days of research that led to the development of the vaccine. The research centered around the Grand Kent County branch office of the Michigan Department of Health. Miss Kendrick was named the branch chief in 1926. The aim of the project was to pinpoint the particular bacteria organisms in children with whooping cough and prepare an agent which would counteract them. D r . Kendrick .and her associate, Dr. Grace Eldering, used the children of Grand Rapids and Kent County, who were just about as hard hit by whooping cough as those in any other part of the country. The researchers divided the children by nursing districts. A plus factor in their work was that most of the children were from similar social and economie backgrounds and age. Health Department teams went to every home which reported the disease. Having the children cough into a píate of jellied media, the samples were taken back to the lab and examined. Next, the researchers had to devise methods of preparing the vaccine to fight the disease. And there was endless s t u d y of laboratory procedure to make sure they had developed a safe product. The group's preliminary findings came out in 1936. But, it took another three y e a r s of analyzing data before "we could conclude we had something definite," Dr. Kendrick said. She emphasized that the success of the project owed much to the efforts of others. Researchers in other parts of the country and the world who had been working on a vaccine shared their methods and results with the Grand Rapids staff. And the people of Kent County never waivered in their support of the work, she recalled. But, because the brunt of the research took place at a time when every level of government and society was experiencing economie problems, the concern of some I key persons helped pull the project through, Dr. Kendrick said. She remembers that in the carly 1930s, for example, the researchers continuously wor[ ried about cutbacks in funds. A t that time, Eleanor Roosevelt was traveling around the country, investigating some of the WPAsponsored projects. It was a time when Congress and other g r o u p s were leveling charges of "boondoggling," Dr. Kendrick said. On Mrs. Roosevelt's itinerary were some WPA projects in Michigan. The First Lady asked if there were any health projects she could visit. Because the Kent County experiment was one of the few WPA-funded health undertakings in the country, the president's wife asked to go there. Dr. Kendrick believes that Mrs. Roosevelt was a big help in getting the WPA funds extended at a critical time. ''She definitely s a w we weren't boondoggling," Dr. Kendrick said. Once the research was proven conclusive, Dr. Kendrick said, there was no time for the group to sit back with their thumbs in their lapels. "We never finished. Everything we did led to something else," she said. Dr. Kendrick added that once pertussis was developed, the health group concentrated on methods of mixing the vaccine with others - such as for diptheria and tetanus, so that children could be immunized for several diseases with one shot. She added that researchers are still trying to make it purer. It wasn't long bef ore word of success of the Michigan study reached other countries. Researchers from other parts of the nation and the world came to Grand Rapids to learn the secrets of Dr. Kendrick's and her staff's work. Likewise, she traveled to other countries to lend help to their development of the vaccine. She served as consultant to such projects in England, South America, via and even the Soviet Union. Many nations, professional organizations and others have since lauded Dr. Kendrick for her work - including the Michigan State Legislatura and the University of Michigan which honored her four years ago with a Sesquicentennial Award. Dr. Kendrick has been with the University's School of Public Health since 1951 as lecturer in epidemiology. Even then, however, she still worked closely with whooping eough program. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she was director of the Health Department Laboratory Practice Unit within the department of epidemiology. Today, Dr. Kendrick works part-time at the school, having retired from lecturing in 1960. She's still busy, er. At 80, she continúes to drive to and from Grand Rapids where she has a house. A current project is gathering some historical material f o r the American Public Health Association. Also, Dr. Kendrick answers invitations from friends and colleagues from all over the world. She pulled out some pictures of one such trip to Mexico last summer. There, some friends and former students surprised her with a party the day she turned 80. And, last October, the state branch of the American Association o f Microbiologists dedicated a symposium, a series of papers and a dinner to her. Despite outward I tion, however, Dr. Kendrick shuns credit for the vaccine : I "There were so many 1 sons involved, don't make mei out as the only one."