8
REPORT OF THE KING INSTITUTE, GUINDY
4. Wassermann tests.—The number has continued to increase and has reached
16,000 which is 2,000 more than last year. The work is now so great that it
takes practically the whole time of two officers instead of one officer as was the
case three years ago.
Assistant Surgeon Y. S. Narayana Rao who is in charge of this sub-section
did Kahn's test as well as Wassermann's in a thousand odd cases. The result
s a r e a s f o l l o w s : —
Wassermann.
Kahn.
Negative. Pos. weak.
Pos .
moderate. Pos. strong.
Negative ...
...
...
...
...
. . .
675
474
114
53
34
Positive weak
...
...
...
...
. . .
134
27
23
30
5 4
Positive moderate ...
...
...
...
...
171
16
12
26
117
Positive Strong ...
...
...
...
...
160
2
21
29
108
Total ...
1,140
519
170
138
313
The first column of figures gives the Wassermann result in the group indi-
cated by the left marginal reading. The way these same bloods reacted to
Kahn's test is shown by the next four columns of figures under their appropriate
headings.
It is difficult to gauge the value of this comparison in the absence of sufficient
clinical details, but it is evident that several Wassermann negative cases were
definitely Kahn positive, while very few negative Kahns were strongly Wasser-
mann positive.
In order to get more information, a new form for use with specimens is being
put out, so whether we succeed in being able to decide which is the better test
will depend on the help we get from those who send us specimens by their
completion of the form.
5. General.— Details are given in Table XII. The many examinations of
faeces of healthy prisoners for typhoid bacilli in order to detect carriers in men
sent to work in cook houses were entirely negative.
Lange' s Gold Sol Test is proving useful in the diagnosis of syphilis of the
central nervous system.
6. Cases of interest.—A bit of tissue from a case of suspected Gas gangrene
yielded on cultivation an organism belonging to the Welchii group which was
pathogenic to guinea-pigs and rabbits killing them in 30 to 40 hours with the
production of gas at the site of inoculation, but the organism grew aerobically
unlike true B. Welchii which is a strict–anaerobe. It was Grampositive and
fermented Glucose, Lactose, Sacharose, Dulcite, Mannite, Galactose and Maltose
with the production of gas but did not ferment Inulin and Adonite.
7. A specimen of faeces was received from a patient who had been suffering
from acute diarrhœa suspected to have been due to eating tinned food—American
clams. The specimen showed no amoebae or organisms of the dysentery group,
but a non-lactose fermenter belonging to the proteus group was isolated which
fermented glucose, sacharose and mannite. The organism was agglutinated by
the patient ' s serum up to a dilution of 1 in 500.
8. From the blood of convict No. 9269 from Alipuram Jail, Bellary, who had
been suffering from a continuous type of pyrexia for over a month, a coliform
organism which fermented sacharose and mannite in addition to lactose was
isolated which was agglutinated by the patient's serum in a dilution of 1 in 400.
9. A specimen of urine was received from a patient, Mrs. J. in the Women
and Children's Hospital, Egmore. She had been having pain in the hypogastrium
and back and high fever with a thready pulse. A paratyphoid organism (belon–g-
ing to neither A, B nor C of the developed species) was isolated, which