Catch It If You Can

Eileen Dicks of Cookham, 30 miles west of London, rang up Betty Stevens in nearby Maidenhead. "I thought you'd like to know--we have a lovely case of German measles," she said. "Oh, how lovely!" said Mrs. Stevens. "Charles will be delighted. We'll be over next week to catch them." So Colleen Dicks, who had been threatened with cancellation of her ninth birthday party last week because she had German measles, had a party after all. As she blew out the nine candles Colleen presumably sent a virus-laden breath over Guest of Honor Antonia Stevens. Colleen also bestowed infectious kisses on Antonia and her brother Mark.

The party was the idea of Antonia's father, Dr. Charles Stevens, who firmly believes that the way to protect his daughters against the danger of having stillborn or malformed children as a result of German measles (rubella) infection early in pregnancy (TIME, Dec. 31) is to make sure they catch the disease long before they are married. So far the virus has not been grown well enough to prepare a vaccine, so the only way a girl can get a case --and lifelong immunity--is from direct exposure to another victim. If Antonia catches it, incubation will take up to 24 days. By then, her three older sisters will be home from school. Said Dr. Stevens: "If our luck holds, either Antonia or Mark should be ready to pass on the spots to the others." Antonia protested: "I don't want measles--I don't want to be ill." But brother Mark rebuked her. "Daddy says you must. It's all something to do with babies. They might be ill."

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