Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U. S. military camps during the Spanish War of 1898 / by Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan and Edward O. Shakespeare.
- Walter Reed
- Date:
- 1900
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Abstract of report on the origin and spread of typhoid fever in U. S. military camps during the Spanish War of 1898 / by Walter Reed, Victor C. Vaughan and Edward O. Shakespeare. Source: Wellcome Collection.
224/270 page 198
![poison of t,yp]ioi<l fever, ;uk1 willi lliis id<*a Bri(if;(*r elii-isleiied it tyjdio- toxiii; Imt iiioi-e 1‘oeent and more elaborat<^ investigation lias shown that the poisonous pi'oduets of tlie Jlhertli liaeilhisare nioreconiplieated than is indicated hy tlie discovery of tliis r-omparatively simple chem- ical substance. The existence of a poisonous proteid within the cells of this germ has been demonstrated by a n umlier of independent inves- tigators. A noteworthy fact in this connection is the discoveiy that by means of repeated relatively small injections of this proteid Ixidj' animals can be rendered immune to virulent cultui-es of the bacillus. This indicates that the complex proteid contained within the cell of the germ constitutes the specific poison of the di.sease. ’'J'he deter- mination of the chemical constitution of this bod}' awaits further research. It is within the range of possibility that the chemical poison to which the complex of symptoms characteristic of tj'phoid fever is due may result, in part, at least, from mixed cultures pic.sent in the intestines of the individual suffering from this disease. I>om typhoid stools there has been obtained a iDoisonous substance which, when injected hypodermically in dogs or administered by the mouth, cau.ses an elevation of temperature accompanied by vomiting and purging. At present our knowledge concerning the chemistry of the etiolog}' of typhoid fever is general and vague, and additional research is neces- sary before satisfactory statements concerning it can be made. Additional evidence that the Eberth bacillns is the specific bacte- rium of typhoid fever is furnished by observing the effect of blood serum from an individual sick with this disease, or recently recovered from the same, upon the germ. A few yeai’S ago Pfeiffer discovered that the blood serum of an animal which had been rendered immune to a given germ manifests a specific and characteristic action upon this germ when both are introduced into the body of a healthy animal. The details of the exj)eriments may be carried out as follows: Render a guinea pig or other animal immune to the t^'phoid or other bacillus by repeated inoculations with small quantities of the bacillus. Take a fraction of a drop of the serum obtained from the blood of the animal thus rendered immune to the given germ, add a looiJ of the culture of this germ to the serum, aud inject the mixture into the abdominal cavity of a healthy guinea pig. After a short time open the abdominal cavity of this animal and make a micro- scopical study of the organism which has been introduced as above described. Instead of opening the abdominal cavity some of the peri- toneal exudate may be removed fiom time to time by means of a sterilized caiiillary j)ipette. It will be found that the bacterial cells are undergoing a characteristic degeneration. Almost immediately after the injection of the germ and serum the former becomes non- motile and later is converted into a granular body, which apparcntly dissolves in the surrounding fluid. This idieuomenon, which is gen- erally designated as Pfeiffer’s reaction, is believed to be in the high-](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28063223_0224.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
