7
REPORT OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
gas (which usually contains about 7 per cent
CO) and also after half an hour in pure
CO 2 . It is concluded that neither CO or
CO
2
can be of much value in practice as high
concentrations are not attainable in rat bur
-
rows, and fleas survive short exposures to
pure CO
2
and to 7 per cent CO respectively.
9. The Study of Plague in the Field.—
A paper on this important subject that will
prove most useful as it gives information in
detail, has been sent by Major Webster for
publication.
10. Rat Flea Survey of Mysore—Mr. P.
V. Sitarama Ayyar .—Six different places
were surveyed. A report has been sent for
publication.
X. cheopis, X. braziliensis and
X. astia are the common rat fleas, probably
both of the first two carry plague.
11. Seasonal Prevalence of Rat Fleas.
—
As a result of Mr. P. V. Sitarama Ayyar's
several surveys of Saidapet, Bellary and
Coimbatore, a paper by him and by myself
on the seasonal prevalence of rat fleas has
been sent for publication.
12. Leptospirosis in Rodents in Madras
— M a j o r W . J . W e b s t e r
. — F o l l o w i n g t h e
researches of Taylor and Goyle which gave
conclusive evidence of human Leptospirosis
in the Andamans, the occurrence of Lepto-
spiral infections has been demonstrated in
Bandicoots in Calcutta and in Rattus nor
-
vegicus in Bombay. But so far there has
been no record of the demonstration of Lepto
-
spira on the Madras side. This, however,
has been suspected. Thus in the annual
report for 1930-31 mention was made of the
investigation of an outbreak of jaundice in
epidemic form which was suspected to be due
to Leptospirosis, but no definite proof of the
infection was obtained. To ascertain whe
-
ther Leptospirosis in rodents existed in South
India, a number of rodents were examined.
The method was dark ground examination
of wet preparations of emulsions of the kid-
- n e y c o r t e x . T h e r e s u l t s a r e a s f o l l o w s : —
Rodents.
Number
examined.
Number
showing
Leptospira.
Rattus rattus . . .
102
Nil.
Funambulus pal-
marum.
25
Nil.
Bandicota indica.
100
7
Thus, the bandicoot seems to be the reser
-
voir for Leptospira in Madras. The rodents
were captured in Saidapet or St. Thomas'
Mount. It may be mere coincidence but
the infected bandicoots were all female (57
females and 43 males were examined). One
of these was also infected with Trypanosoma
lewisi.
13. Cases of interest in the Autovaccine
Section.—Rao Bahadur Dr. T. Sitapati
Ayyar—( a) Micrococcus deformans auto
-
vaccine was very successful in two cases of
rheumatoid arthritis.
(b) Infection with B. faecalis alkali
-
genes. A child 4½ years old had typhoid
fever—B. Typhosus was isolated. After
having fever for three weeks, her temperature
became normal. Soon afterwards continuous
fever started again. B. faecalis alkaligenes
was isolated in pure culture from her urine.
It reacted with the serum and an autovaccine
cured the child.
(c)
Infection with B. pseudo
-
carolinus. From the urine of a case of
P.U.O. lactose fermenters giving the reaction
of B. pseudo-carolinus were isolated. An
auto vaccine cured the case.
(d)
From the Cerebro-spinal fluid of
a baby, nine months old, suffering from acute
meningitis, B. pfeiffer, was isolated in pure
culture.
(e) Treatment by urinary autopro
-
teose. This was very successful in a severe
case of extensive and spreading eczema, also
in a case of purpura that had proved refrac
-
tory to several other treatments such as
drugs, X-- r a y s , e t c .
14. Serological classification of strepto
-
cocci— Rao Bahadur Dr. T. Sitapati Ayyar.
Streptococci from various sources are being
collected and their serological interactions
are being studied.
15. Comparison of Kahn's standard
antigen with the Institute antigen for the
Kahn test—Dr. N. Seshadrinathan.— As I
was anxious to ensure the accuracy of our
serological tests I wrote to the author of the
Kahn test—Dr. Kahn himself, who from
America very kindly sent me some of his own
standard antigen. Comparative tests of the
Kahn reaction with his antigen and with the
antigen that we make here and with Wasser
-
mann tests have been done in 300 odd cases
with the following results :—
Institute antigen.
Standard antigen Kahn.
Wassermann.
Kahn results.
Total
number. Negative. Doubtful. Positive. Positive
strong Negative. Doubtful. Positive. Positive
strong.
PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT. PER CENT.
Negative . . .
108
100
. . .
. . .
. . .
84.3
5.5
7.4
2.7
Doubtful . . .
79
44.3
43
8.9
3.8
4.2
6.3
22.8
36.7
Positive . . .
79
5.1
34.2
43
17.7
13.9
8.9
27.8
49.4
Positive strong.
67
1.5
10.4
20.9
67.2
3
3
7.4
86.6
Standard antigen.
Institute antigen Kahn.
Wassermann.
Negative . . .
148
73
23.6
2.7
7
76.4
8.8
10.1
4.7
Doubtful . . .
68
. . . 50
39.7
10.3
22
4 4 33.8
39.8
Positive . . .
55
. . . 12.7
61.8
25.5
5.4
73
20
67.3
Positive strong.
62
. . . 4.8
22.6
72.6
. . .
. . . 6.5
93.5