Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the civil government of Malta, for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an advisory committee of the Royal Society.

  • Great Britain. Admiralty. Commission for the Investigation of Mediterranean Fever.
Date:
1905-7
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the civil government of Malta, for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an advisory committee of the Royal Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    fed on the patient and on Monkey No. 70, are shown in Table I. An endeavour was made to keep the mosquitoes alive as long as possible, as in view of the work done on Yellow Fever it seemed possible that several days might intervene between the absorption of the il/. melitensis into the stomach of the mosquito and its transfer, possibly through the salivary glands, to the proboscis. In Dr. Zammit’s successful experiment only 48 hours intervened between the absorption of the micrococci and their transfer to the patient. In Experiment I the intervals were 2, 4, 8, and 10 days, respectively. Monkey No. 70 had been under observation for several months and always appeared perfectly healthy. Its serum was examined at varying periods, but it never manifested the slightest power of agglutinating the M. melitensis. Experiment II. The same procedure was followed in this experiment, the patient, Private K , K.A.M.C., having a typical wave of fever. The number of mosquitoes and the dates when they were fed on the patient and on Monkey No. 44, are given in Table II. The mosquitoes were kept alive for 13 days, and yet no trace of agglutination could be detected.when the serum of the monkey, in a low dilution, was added to an emulsion of the M. melitensis. Experiment III. In this experiment mosquitoes were fed on different patients, specially selected owing to the presence of marked fever at the time of feeding. The details of the various feedings are given in Table III. All the agglutination tests were negative. Experiment IF. In this experiment mosquitoes were fed on monkeys recently inoculated with M: melitensis and, after an interval of 48 hours, transferred to Monkey No. 76 which arrived at the laboratory on 8.9.04. On 16.9.04 and 22.9.04 the serum of Monkey 76, diluted 1—10, was added to an emulsion of M. melitensis; no agglutination was observed on either occasion. On the 20.9.04 mosquitoes were fed on Monkey No. 60a, at that time at the summit of a wave of fever, and 48 hours later they were fed on Monkey No. 76. On the 25.9.04, mosquitoes were again fed on Monkey No. 60a, and on the 27.9.04 transferred to Monkey No. 76. On the 27.9.04 mosquitoes were fed on Monkey No. 72, infected by feeding and at the height of a wave of fever, and 4S hours later transferred to Monkey No. 76. The serum of Monkey No. 76 was examined on 27.9.04, but did not manifest the slightest power of agglutinating the il/. melitensis. (These experiments are still proceeding.)