12
REPORT OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
used have been kindly supplied by Dr. Asheshov working under the Indian
Research Fund Association. A report was submitted to Government of which it
will suffice to quote only the conclusion and my forwarding remarks : —
" Conclusion.—Cases of cholera were being reported off and on in Bellary
town and Siddapuram and Narayana Devakiri villages. The infection at
Narayana Devakiri village was quite severe. In none of these places were any
cholera cases reported after the introduction of bacteriophage into parts of the
water-supply of these localities. It is likely the epidemic was on the decline at
the time of the arrival of the unit. While the termination of the epidemic
might have been due to other factors, the introduction of bacteriophage probably
also contributed towards that end, particularly in Narayana Devakiri. The
presence of spontaneous bacteriophage in the tank water (Vadrabanda tank) in
Bellary around which no cases had been reported and in the wells of Hospet after
the cessation of the epidemic there, is suggestive of the role the cholera bacterio
- p h a g e p r o b a b l y p l a y s i n b r i n g i n g a b o u t t h e t e r m i n a t i o n o f t h e c h o l e r a e p i d e m i c . "
Forwarding remarks.—" I think there are two important conclusions that
one can come to from this account :
—
(1) Cholera bacteriophage does no harm and perhaps assists in
preventing cholera.
(2) To get good proof that cholera bacteriophage is a good preventive
or not of cholera, field tests such as this must be continued, but care must be taken
to introduce the bacteriophage only in places where cholera has recently started,
for otherwise, as has been the case here, no definite proof of its effect will be
obtained.
(b) Dr. Theodore tried to use bacteriophage in the same way in the
Cuddapah district, but this could not be done owing to the local insistence on
chlorination of all water-supplies, which is of course incompatible with the use
of phage."
(14) Trial of cholera bacteriophage in the treatment of cholera.—At our
request the Tondiarpet Infectious Diseases Hospital, Madras, kindly treated
alternate cases with bacteriophage during the last small epidemic in Madras.
About two ounces of phage was administered slowly in the first 24 hours. Saline
treatment was given to all cases. Results in the two groups are as follow :—
Number of
cases.
Number of cases
with collapse on
admission.
Number of cases
diagnosed clini-
cally as
" Severe."
Bacteriological
findings.
Deaths.
Cases
treated
with
phage.
17
13
11
Vibrios isolated
in all cases.
4
Controls . . .
17
10
9
Vibrios isolated
in 15 Nega -
tive in 2.
8
The figures are small, but are obviously very encouraging, for the death
- r a t e i n t h e b a c t e r i o p h a g e t r e a t e d c a s e s w a s o n l y h a l f t h a t i n t h o s e n o t s o t r e a t e d .
(15)
Type of cholera bacteriophage isolated in Madras—Drs. C. G. Pandit
and R. Sanjivi Rao.—The stools of a number of cases of cholera admitted into the
Tondiarpet and Krishnampet Isolation Hospitals in the City were examined for
the presence of cholera phages. The type of phage isolated was also determined.
It was found to conform to the 64-A type of phage described and cultivated by
Dr. Asheshov in his laboratory at Patna. This phage, as well as the one isolated
locally, lyse all the different groups of vibrios at present known to occur in India.
A paper describing results in detail has been sent for publication to the Indian
Journal of Medical Research.
(16)
The antigenic structure of secondary cultures obtained with the three
types of choleraphages and a strain of cholera vibrios—Drs. C. G. Pandit and
R. Sanjivi Rao.—The antigenic structure of the three types of secondary cultures
were studied. The main change was in respect of the somatic antigen. This
was considerably modified in the case of secondary A, but it persisted in varying
amounts with the secondaries B and C. A paper has been sent for publication
in the I.J.M.R.