Grace Eldering

(September 5, 1900 - August 31, 1988)
Born in the United States
Year of Discovery: 1938

Developed Vaccine that Whoops Whooping Cough!


Childhood memories are often powerful reminders of significant events that shape future lives. For Grace Eldering, the childhood memories that shaped her life were filled with pain. She was beset withcaught  whooping cough when she was just five years old, and she never forgot the persistent, painful coughing. She went on to study biology and chemistry, and spent her career searching for ways to ease the suffering of others. She began her career in Lansing, Michigan. Unable to find a paying position fresh out of college, she simply volunteered her time in the laboratory for the first six months. Her service was rewarded and she was given a paid position in Grand Rapids, where she joined forces with Pearl Kendrick. The duo would revolutionize the treatment of whooping cough, known as pertussis to scientists since that is the name of the bacteria that causes it.

At its height, whooping cough claimed over 6,000 lives each year in the United States. Remarkably, during the 1940s, it was responsible for the deaths of more infants than polio, measles, tuberculosis, and all other childhood diseases combined. Chicago officials were so alarmed that they required infected children, following a two-week quarantine period, to be accompanied by an attendant and to wear a yellow armband with the words "Whooping Cough" written in large black letters on it.

In 1932 using Grand Rapids as a self-contained clinical trial, Eldering and Kendrick began, in 1932, with a small group of local physicians. Eldering worked tirelessly, volunteering her expertise and her labor, often working long into the night after completing her normal workday. "We learned about the disease and the depression at the same time," Eldering remembered. "We collected specimens by the light of kerosene lamps, from whooping, vomiting, strangling children. We saw what the disease could do."¹ Her childhood memories compelled her to find keep searching for a solution to ease the suffering of the children of her day. When they finally had a vaccine, they turned to the local doctors with the first test vaccines. Following promising early results, they conducted a large-scale trial from 1934 to 1937, involving over 5,800 children. The results were stellar, with the children who received the active vaccine demonstrating a strong immunity. By 1943, their vaccine was in routine use throughout the United States, and by the early 1960s the rate of incidence of whooping cough had plummeted to less than five percent of the 1934 rate. In 1942, Eldering and Kendrick combined three vaccines into a single shot, the Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus (DPT) vaccine.

Though whooping cough deaths in the United States have been reduced to a handful each year, pertussis continues to be a killer in the developing nations of the world. The World Health Organization estimates over 39 million cases occur worldwide each year, resulting in close to 300,000 deaths.

¹ Marks HM (2006). The Kendrick-Eldering-(Frost) pertussis vaccine field trial. The James Lind Library (www.jameslindlibrary.org). Accessed Tuesday 9 September 2008.

Introduction by Tim Anderson

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	Women Science Heroes Mary Ellen Avery Discovered the cause of Respiratory Distress Syndrome Avery's discovery was crucial in the fight against the deadly children's disease Respiratory Distress Syndrome. More... Rachel Schneerson Created vaccines to fight Hib disease Schneerson's vaccines fought Hib disease, the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in young children. More... Ann Holloway Helped John Enders develop the measles vaccine Holloway was John Enders' "most able technician and associate" in the search for a measles vaccine. More... Anna Mitus Helped John Enders develop the measles vaccine Mitus' expertise was critical in the development of the measles vaccine. More... Grace Eldering Developed the Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Vaccine Eldering survived the deadly whooping cough disease at age five. More... Pearl Kendrick Developed the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine Kendrick was tenacious in her pursuit of a cure for whooping cough. More... « 01 Mary Ellen Avery Discovered the cause of Respiratory Distress Syndrome 02 Rachel Schneerson Created vaccines to fight Hib disease 03 Ann Holloway Helped John Enders develop the measles vaccine 04 Anna Mitus Helped John Enders develop the measles vaccine 05 Grace Eldering Developed the Whooping Cough (Pertussis) Vaccine 06 Pearl Kendrick Developed the whooping cough (pertussis) vaccine » Pause Frontpage Slideshow (version 2.0.0) - Copyright © 2006-2008 by JoomlaWorks Click the name on far right to jump to the scientist.  Click the image (or middle column name) to go to the scientist's page.

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