Report on the outbreak of plague at Sydney [1900-1907] / by J. Ashburton Thompson, Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health.
- New South Wales. Department of Public Health
- Date:
- 1900-1908
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report on the outbreak of plague at Sydney [1900-1907] / by J. Ashburton Thompson, Chief Medical Officer of the Government and President of the Board of Health. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![growth developed in very much the same way as on ordinary agar, resulting in a few days in tlie production of the involution forms already described. The addition of glycerine or glucose was not found to have any advantage over the simple medium. No redness was produced on slightly alkahne litmus agar, whilst the culture ftself often acquired a pale-blue colour from the litmus. On nutrient (17 per cent.) gelatine, at the room temperature the growth appeared in 3-4 days, and reached its maximum development in the course of the succeeding fortnight. In gelatine tubes, kept in the warmer atmosphere of the incubating room (16-20° C), the colonies sometimes appeared in 24-36 hours. The general appearance of the surface culture was similar to that upon agar, but often had a white colour. In stab-cultures the growth appeared first in the form of a row of closely-placed, fine granules, which later became more or less confluent, and appeared as a well-marked whitish streak. There was a slowly-growing white expansion on the surface. No liquefaction of the gelatine occurred. On ordinary serum tubes, inoculated with material from buboes or viscera, and incubated at 37° C, growth usually appeared in 36 to 48 hours after inoculation in the form of small, rounded, cloudy colonies. In their development the colonies reached a diameter of 2 or 3 millimetres, and acquired a creamy colour. In general, the growth was more opaque and more abundant on serum than on agar. Occasionally the serum appeared to be depressed in the neighbourhood of the growth, but there was never any observable hquefaction. In subculture the growth on serum was often visible in 24 hours. In ordinary beef-bouillon tubes, incubated at 37° C, the growth was usually visible on the second day after incubation. As a general rule, it appeared in the form of fine crumb-like spicules attached to the sides, with more or less deposit at the bottom of the tube, the broth remaining clear and transparent. In other cases a moderate uniform turbidity was produced. No change of colour was ob5erved in neutral litmus agar. No reaction for nitrites nor for indol was obtained, except in a few instances of growths several weeks ofd, in which, however, the culture appeared to be pure bacilli pestis. Growth in bouillon flasks containing- oil resulted in the production of a film, scanty crops of stalactites, and a copious deposit. The number of stala'ctites present at any one time never exceeded six or eight ; they were very fragile, and were noticed to become detached from the film and sink to the bottom of the flask with a worm-like motion. The paucity of growth of stalactites is probably attributable to the fact that the laboratory is subject to a considerable amount of vibration, sometimes marked enough to be distinctly felt, and always such as to prevent micro-photographic work in the daytime. The use of the pepto-gelatinc medium of Yersin did not give results obviously better than those obtained with ordinary bouillon. In milk the growth was much less abundant than in bouillon, and development was eficcted without change in the appearance of the medium. On ordinary potato, and also on alkalinised potato, a scanty creamy growth, limited to the lower end of the line of inoculation, developed on only a few of the many tubes inoculated. (c) Pathogenic Characters. The reports of numerous investigators indicate that plague not only affects man, but is liable to attack several different species of lower animals. Rats, mice, pigs, monkeys, cats, marmots, bandicoots, and pigeons are mentioned as having acquired the disease in a natural way, wliilst guinea-pigs and rabbits are the most important items of a long list of animals susceptible of infection by artificial means. In Sydney plague has been found in specimens from human beings, rats, mice, and cats forv/arded for examination, and in the laboratory experimental observations have been made upon rats, mice, cats, and guinea-pigs. The specim.ens from human subjects of plague comprised materials from buboes, carbuncles, blood, sputum, urine, foeces, and from the viscera in post-morte^n cases. The material was obtained sometimes at the initial examination by means of a sterilised syringe ; and sometimes from patients in the hospital by the same procedure, or after incision when tlie gland had suppurated. In a few instances slouglis from buboes were examined. The results of the examinations as regards the detection of plague bacilli are shown by the following statement:— Material taken. 1. uiul)cr examined. Result positive. Result ne^'ative. 1 1 „ 3rd „ „ 5 5 „ 4!h „ „ 1 1 „ Cth „ „ 3 3 „ 7lli „ „ 4 4 „ 8th „ „ 4 3 i „ 9th „ „ 4 4 „ icth „ 3 1 2 „ ]3th „ , 1 1 „ 14th „ „ 3 3 „ ]5lh „ „ 1 i „ Ifith „ „ 1 1 „ 181 h „ „ 1 1 „ ICth „ „ 1 1 „ 20t:h „ „ 2 2 „ 2lEt „ „ 1 i „ 23i-d „ 1 i „ 24t,h „ „ 1 1 „ 25th „ 2 1 1 „ 2fth „ „ 3 1 2 „ 32m1 ., 2 2 Between 33th and 94th day of i!]ncs3 13 13 Tot,.l £8 j 29 29 J t Y,dll be seen that plague bacilli were forthcoming in 50 per cent, of the specimens ; that material taken during the first week yielded uniformly positive results, that bacilli were discoverable up to the thirty-second](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21354704_0058.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
