A Preliminary Report on Effects of Routine Military Inoculations on Respiratory Illness.∗

Summary Preliminary results are reported from a study of the non-specific effects of routine military inoculations on respiratory illness reported by navy recruits, Great Lakes, Ill. Delaying most of the inoculations to the latter half of the basic training period was associated with about a 20% reduction in the incidence of the more severe respiratory illnesses, including pneumonia. The general pattern of respiratory illness was unaltered by delaying the inoculations; hence, possibly other non-infectious factors also contribute to the etiology of recruit respiratory illness.