Report on the etiology and prevention of yellow fever / by George M. Sternberg.

  • Sternberg, George Miller, 1838-1915.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the etiology and prevention of yellow fever / by George M. Sternberg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    following case death resulted from the subcutaueous iujectiou of similar material: August 10, 1&89.—Injected snljcntancously into rabbit 159 3 minims from liver of case 31. Animal died iu couvnlsions at 1 p. m., August 12. The bacillus of rabbit septictemia was recovered from the liver in an agar-stick culture. The same bacillus was obtained indirectly from another case, as follows: Guinea-pig No. 172 injected July 31 with material from liver of case 29, kept 48 hours in an antiseptic wrapping, died the following day. Anaerobic culture iu glycerin agar from the liver of this guinea-pig contained bacilli and was injected (1 cubic centimetre) into guinea-jng 141, which died at the end of 32 hours from the time of injection. An anaerobic culture in blood serum from the liver of this guinea-pig was injected on August G into rabbit 150, which died the following day. The blood and liver of this rabbit contained a small bacillus with stained ends, which proved to be the bacillus of rabbit septicaemia. Cultures from the blood and liver of this rabbit and the preceding one were subsequently injected into other rabbits with a uniformly fatal result, and the bacillus was fully identified as Koch's bacillus of rab- bit septicaemia, now generally admitted to be identical with the bacillus of fowl cholera, first described by Pasteur as a micrococcus. YELLOW FEVER URINE NOT TATHOGENIC FOR RABBITS. May 5, 1889.—Injected into cavity of abdomen of ralibit 101 7 cubic centimetres urine from case 16, drawn at autopsy through walls of bladder. Result negative. May 10, 1889.—Injected into cavity of abdomen of rabbit 105 (weight 1,000 grammes) 11 cubic centimetres of albuminous yellow fever urine from a case in the third day of the disease. Temperature, 30 minutes after the injection, 104° F. ; respiration nor- mal. The animal remained in good health until used for anotlier experiment. July 29, 1889.—Injected into cavity of abdomen of rabbit 133 (weight about 1,000 grammes) 10 cubic centimetres of highly albuminous urine from a case in the fourth day of the disease; urine collected two hours before injection; slightly acid; specific gravity, 1.025. Result negative. VIRULENCE OF LIVER TISSUE KEPT FOR 18 HOURS IN AN ANTISEP- TIC WRAPPING. I have already referred to the fact that a piece of liver or kidney from a yellow-fever patient which has been enveloped in an antiseptic wrapping at the time of the autopsy contains numerous microorgan- isms when the antiseptic wrapping is removed at the end of 48 liours. Now, if a little material from the interior of one of these pieces is in- jected beneath the skin of a guinea-pig my experiments show that death generally occurs within a comparatively short time. Very shortly after the injection is made the animal becomes restless, and at the end of 3 or 4 hours he commences to dash about his cage at intervals in an abrupt, nervous way. Death frequently occurs inside of 24 hours,