SERA AND VACCINES IN EAST GERMANY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A001000250010-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 9, 2009
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: April 27, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2009/03/09: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA001000250010-2
INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
SECRET/CONTROL - U.S. OFFICIALS ONLY
SECURITY INFORMATION
COUNTRY East Germany
SUBJECT Sera and Vaccines in
East Germany
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 27 April 1953
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
Slomplaint to Fritz Lange
a. -On 18 . January 1953, Prof. Dr. Maxim, Zetkin, Hauptabteilux gsleiter, of
the East German Ministry of Health, wrote to Fritz Lange of the Zentrale
Kommission flier Stl;atliehe Kontrolle (ZZK). Copies of the letter were
sent also to Heinrich Rau, deputy Minister President, Staatliche Plankon-
mission, and to Dizk van, Rickelen, Secretary of State, Staatsekretariat
fuer Chemie, Steine and Erden,
b. Professor Zeitkin started his letter as follows s In the past year, serum
production' in East Germany, with respect to quantity and quality of
human. sera, reached a pronounced hadir6 Professor Zeikirt continued
that, because Last German plants could not produce ooncentrrp.ted
(4aOOO and. 6s,ooo x) diptheria and tetanus sera, ; 1mt East Germany
had been obliged to import these from the Zest The professor attributed
this trouble partly to the shortage of serum horses.e
c. In addition, an important cause of the trouble wao that the nationalized
Asid-Sermwerk VEB, Dessau, had been very slack, in spite of repeated
ministerial complaints, in fulfilling its 1951 production plan. It had
also ob-j-ecated to accepting any obligation to produce concentrated sera
or vaccines in 1952. The reason for this appeared to lie in the
mercenary outlook of the nationalized firm, which could not make so much
profit from sera ail; from pharmaceutical products. All this was in
marked contrast to the cooperative spirit and plan fulfilment of the
..private firm Saechisohes Serumrerk AG (SSW)? Dresden*
d. Professor Zetkin concluded that the shortage of serum horses was to
be remedied by importing 24 Hungarian horses. He asked the ZKK to take
action against the Asid-Serumrwerk VEB,, Dessau.
STATE X
ARMY x jNAVY X AI
R FBI AEC ?' Ev X
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2. East Germary's production difficulties.
On 28 February 1952, the Health Inspection Section of the East German
Ministry of Health prepared, for intra-ministerial use, and expose on
.the production of concentrated sera and vaccines in East Gprmany. The
expose listed the following five reasons for the difficultiess
a. Lack of serum horses - to be remedied by import from iIgary,
b. Sera are concentrated, and purified by electro-dialysis2 in Europe, the
State Serum Institute in Copenhagen has the apparatus for this, The
SSW specialists understand the Copenhagen apparatus fully'. but have none
at their disposal. The trial apparatus that they did have to remo_ve-
peptolysed antitoxins with alumina (Tonerde) was destroyed during the
attack on Dresden. The apparatus cannot now'be rebuilt, as it can only
be built with V2A steel piping. In addition, the necessary alumina can
be obtained only from a pit in the Rhineland.
0., Although the SSW knows,, in general, how to produce 4,000 aisd 6,000 x.._
sera, some details of the process are protected by patents, which the
Behring works have bought from the Amerioans a tat - Germany cannot
oircumvent this patent proteotio4o Further, there certainly is not
the neoessary practical experience in East Germany as
during and before World, War I14
de Foreign, particularly American, literature on the purification of
sera is lacking. As far as this literature is known through German
translationsa it mentions apparatus and nutritive media not available
in East Germany.
e. There is a great shortage of trained specialists in East Germany for
serum production.
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 Approved For Release 2009/03/09: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA001000250010-2
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Annex A
East German 1952 serum and vaccine needs
1. Early in 1952, the Est German Ministry of Health drew up the following table
of east Germany ? s requirements -for human sera end va6biheg for 1952. The' "-
table is not based on strict medical considerations of requirements but is a
ministerial statement of requirements which takes into accounts
b.
00
T&I
Botulinus serum
20 Tetanus sera
Amount ,& units
1,000 packagesl
2', 000
215 1 iter
25 liter
not planned at Amid)
...
3. Tetanus serum from horses 1000
180 liter
4. Tetanus serum from horses 60O.x
780'liter-
5e Tetanus serum from heifers 300 x "
24 liter
6. Tetanus serum from rams 300
24 liter
7. Tetanus, vadoine?
8. Diphtheria serum,
9. Diphtheria serum from horses
100 Diphtheria 'serum from rams
lie Diphtheria vaooine
12, Scarlet fever serum.
130 Di-Tussis.-Toxoid 2z
140 Dimsoarlet fever vaccine
150 Di-Tussia-Tetanus Tdxoid,
16. Spotted fever (Fleokfieber)
vaccine
170 Cholera vaccine
18. abies vaccine
19. Iieningooo.ocus serum,
20. Gas .'gangrene antitoxin
.. 40
can be increased at any time
1000 to 2000 x"
"52 1'itiif
100 liter
500 x
360 liter
150 liter
No 'requirements, if needed...
can be produced from concentrate
50 Liter
Proposed source
Saechssohes
Serumwerk (SSW)
SSW
Amid Dessau (AD)
Asid Dessau (AD)
AD
SSW
Amid Weimsehsee
(AW)
I Pf'iatoffw6rk?
Sohoneweide (LS)
Requirement
SSW
SECRET/C0NT:ROL .. U.S. '''FICIALS ONLY
TReserves at the beginning of 1952
production eapacit .ea9 of East German plaUts
money available for import.
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Amount & units
21. Polivii elide-convalescent whenever possible
serum.
224 Measles conveliosoant serum whenever possible
23. Test seru - for determining whenever possible
Peritonitis serum 150 liter
25 Anthrax' serum
Pree4pitating sera
2i., X fly enza adsobate vacoi
28. Tuber6ulirie_,
Dilution 5.1000
29. Tubs6ulilw salve
30, TuReitropin forte
1 liter
e 156 liter'
60 liter
100 l it'er
316' "fbn-Ergot 60 liter
32. Sera for dtiiastio 5 liter
33, gmailpox' set,= 34. Typhus oral' oapsul.e$.
3#900,000 oapsvles
356 BCC? vaooine
Bachsieohe8
Serum*erk (8SW)
Asid D10sau (AD
T*p eitcff*ef
Sohoeneweide (1w
AD
,Asid Witesehs_^
T8
IB
these ire 100 *owpaokagou.,
25X1
BZCDET/CO OL : LB. llMCSAIB ONLY
Approved For Release 2009/03/09: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA001000250010-2