The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1890-08-02
PROPAGATION CT plPHTaEalA, ay
COWS and GAIa.

GUHS AM CATS.
A most important communication
was recently made 10 the Royal
Society by DR.. Klein, on the nature
of diphtheria aud its dissemination
BY the agency of domestic animals.
The history of the discovery of the
microhe OF the disease was first
given, and the fact stated that the
bacillus which is present in human
diphtheria in the diseased or false
membrane of the throat, but which
is not found in any other part Of the
body, could be dsseminatep in
guinea pigs by incubation, aud that
in them also it is limited to the part
of the body inoculated, destroying,
however, the life of the animal by
producing chemical poison which
is absorbed by the system, causing
a generally diseased condition, often
followed by death.
A very important statement was
made by Dr. Klein, to the effect
that on various occasions he had re-
ceived from the officers of health i'm
formation of curious relation e1-
isting between disease in cats and
dlphtheria in human beings. These
medical officers had noticed that ON
many occasions where cat or cats
were talSenill with pulmonary disease
and nursed by children that the
latter sickened with well mark
ed diphthera. Or conversely, that
the children were taken i'll with
diphtheria, and, either at the same
time, or shortly afterwards, the cat
or cats sickened. The disease in
the cat, either that producing, or
that produced by, diphtheria was
identical, and was described as an
acute lung trouble; the animals were
quiet, did not feed, and seemed I'M
able to swallow. In some cases
they recovered, in others they be-
came emaciated, while the lung
trouble increased, and they ulti-
mately died. These, it should be
remarked, were not isolated cases.
In some localities the cat malady
was very general, and unfortunately
the children were soon after as gen.
orally attacked with diphtheria,
post mortem examination of the af-
fected cats showing severe lung dis
ease, pneumonia, and large white
kidneys due to fatty degeneration,
precisely similar condition of the in
ternal organs being also met with in
the human subject that died of
diphtheria.
In order TO ascertain more indis-
putably these important conclusions,
cats were inoculated with diphtheri-
tic bacilli derived from human
patients, the disease being readily
produced in them. In those cases
in which death occurred the lungs
were found congested and the kid
neys diseased, but no bacilli were
found except at the seat of inocula-
ton, the conclusion arrived at being
that, as in the human subject, and
in the guinea pigs that had been in
oculated, the visceral disease was
the result Of the action of chemi
cal poison, produced by the growth
of the bacillus at the seat of the
incubation.
| During the last ten or twelve years
many outbreaks of diphtheria have
been traced to the employment of
milk from infected COWS. In order
to ascertain whether diphtheria could
be communicated to these animals,
Professor Klein inoculated two COWS
! with human diphtheria. The ami
mails in eight or ten days were at
tackled with cough; one died on the
18Th, the other had to be killed on
the 25th day. Both were attacked
with pneumonia and disease of the
kidneys, and bacilli were found in
the emptier or the udder, and jim the
milk.
A remarkable proof of the trans
ferece of the disease from one
animal to another recently occurred
in the Brown Institution. During
March the two COWS already referred
to were ill in the institution with the
diphtheria, given to them by inocu'
lation from the human subject. The
: diphtheria bacillus was found il
their milk the fifth day after inocu
lation, and orders were given to tn,
attendant to throw the milk away
but this order was not obeyed, an(
the milk was given to two healthy
cats. These soon became affected
with all the symptoms of natural ca
diphtheria, and died, but not befor,
they had infected no less than four
teen Others which we're in the insli
tuition.
These Investigations which coul,
not be carried out were the views o
the antivivisectionists carried GU
as they would desire, are of the ut
most Importance. They prove dis
: tinctly that the same disease infect
the human subject, mich cows, ant
cats, and that it can be readily com
municated from one to the other
The practical deduction to be draw
from these researches is the neces
sity of the isolation, or, still safer
the immediate destruction of an
, cat affected by the disease, ind
Gated in their case by impaired re
spiration, quietude, loss of appetite
and in severe cases inability I
swallow.