Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1946 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1946 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    control of infection by living tissues in tissue- culture has been continued. Our findings, reported and summarized in a paper now in the press (Journal of Hygiene, 1947) led us to the conclusion that the infection of tissue-culture of embryonic chicken-lung with avian bacilli leads at least temporarily to a symbiosis of bacilli and tissue cells, with the result that the tissue-culture is not killed by the infection with virulent bacilli, while on the other hand avirulent bacilli are ingested but not destroyed by tissue cells. Details are given in the above- mentioned publication. As these findings do not agree with those obtained by Maximov in the infection of adult rabbit tissue with virulent and avirulent bacilli of the bov'pe and human type, the question arose whether adult tissues respond differently from those of the chicken embryo. We did, however, show that this was not the case. The same avian bacilli which produced a widespread tuberculosis after intraperitoneal infection in rabbits did not affect the tissue- cultures from rabbit spleen in any demonstr¬ able way. We are now engaged in repeating and expanding Maximov’s experiments by apply¬ ing the viability tests devised in this labora¬ tory and described in previous annual reports. This line of research, carried out by a team of workers, and combining tissue culture and bacteriological methods, has not only a theor¬ etical interest. It is quite possible that if our results are confirmed by the experiments now in progress, our present views on the mech¬ anism of infection in tuberculosis will have to undergo reconstruction. 3. Practical Use of the Viability Test Having shown by our viability tests that there is no evidence for the destruction of the tubercle bacilli through phagocytosis in tissue culture, the question was examined whether in the process of human infection the des¬ truction of bacilli by the tissue could be demonstrated by this method. There was evidence that in cases of efficient artificial pneumothorax the colonies which grew on sputum smear cultures were very poor and consisted of short granular bacilli which were only slightly acid-fast. Similarly, in a healed focus of an A. P. lung, colonies grew in smear cultures made from the caseous content but only very poorly, with the bacilli showing morphological abnormalities. This question is being further studied : (a) jointly with the Sims-Wood head Laboratory, and (b) with Dr. Barrett, Reader in Morbid Anatomy and Pathologist to Addenbrooke’s Hospital. II. OTHER ACTIVITIES It has been necessary to devote all our time to develop the research programme outlined above, and which was approved by the Medical Research Committee. Other activities, on which reports have been made in previous annual reports, have had to be discontinued. However, efforts have been made to avoid a break in continuity. 1. Children’s Survey The publication of PAPWORTH FAMILIES has been received very well by the medical critics, and a wish was expressed that this survey should be continued and a review of the situation presented in ten years’ time. The recording has, therefore, been continued and is in the hands of a colonist who has been engaged in this work for several years. 2. Assessment of Working Capacity Great interest has been shown from many quarters in the work done at Papworth in developing a scheme tor the assessment of working capacity. In our last report we mentioned that a publication was in prepar¬ ation, and this work is now nearing complet¬ ion. The first part of this work will be de¬ voted to the statistical assessment of the demand for rehabilitation, and a scheme for such research was explained in previous pub¬ lications (After-care and Rehabilitation, 1937, Papworth Research Bulletin, 1938, and Tubercle, 1945). 3. Demonstrations, etc. (i) A demonstration was given at the Meeting of the Refresher Course for Tuber¬ culosis Officers in 1946 at Cambridge and Papworth. (ii) . In co-operation with Dr. Honor B. Fell, a film on our observations on phago¬ cytosis in tissue culture was made by Dr. Hughes, Strangeways Research Laboratory, Cambridge, using, for the first time, phase- contrast photography. This film, edited joint¬ ly by the Strangeways Research Laboratory and Papworth Village Settlement, has been shown to many audiences in this country and the U.S.A., and has met with great interest. (iii) . A demonstration was given to the medical students. Part II (arranged by Dr. M. M. Wilson). [18]