The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-01
CURE FOR DIPHTHERIA
HOW THE ANTl-TOxIN CULTURE Is
CARRIED ON IN DROOTxLyN.
Two CAREFUL. selected Horses VIII
Yield the First of This Product
That IL Made in America.

IL
doubt. the pair engaged in the scientific
process of producing for the medical stan
or the Hospital for Contagious Diseases, on
Kingston avenue. quantity as yet I'M
known of anti-toxin. If the work is success
full. and there seems at present no reason
to believe that it will not be. 1t win resuls
in the production of probably the first anti
toxin made in this country.
Anti-toxin is the newly discovered cure
for diphtheria. 1t is very potent drug and
has been used with marked success by DR..
Jesse L. Duryea and his assistants at the
Kingston-avenue hospital. The limited guam
tity of II. however. which was imported from
Germany, exhausted on Oct. 8 A new
supply has been expected in this country
daily, but has not yet arrived. Owing to it's
but recent discovery and limited production
1t is very expensive.
1t was in July that the contagious diseases
hospital received from Dr. Hans Aronson
of Berlin some tnti-toxin for use on patients
of the institution. The preparation was used
| in fourteen cases. Twelve of the patients
recovered and two died. The two tatal cases
were advanced to stage of eight and nine
days when admitted to the hospital and
were noted as most unfavorable for the euse
| of the drug, which is considered to be Of
beneficial effect not later than four or fivo
days after the development of the disease.
the fourteen cases represented a oath rate
] of but las per cent. The. MOI tally in cases
| treated by other methods was 27.45 per cent.
This shows that there was q reduction OF
Ii per cent. in favor of Snti-soxin.
When called upon by a reporter DR.. Dur
| yea. who is superintendent at the Kingston
avenue hospital. gave a very interesting de-
Anti-toxin, he said. lis an incubation by
| hypodernlic injection of chemically prepared
blood serum from some animal which has
been made immune from diphtheria.' AZ
| DR.. Duryea explained more fully this is how
ri Tl1A aft nod.
| From a patient afflicted with diphtheria
| IS taken a culture from the membrane in
| piece of cotton over the membrane and
placing the cotton in substance which
IS favorable as hls;, to the growth Of bacil such
| incubator and the bacilM grow and produce
| a colony. sometimes in twenty,four hours
| From this culture, known as klebs-Loeffier
| bacilH. solution is made.
| HORSES BEST FOR THE CULTURE,.
Then it is necessary to have some animal
| which can be ihoculated. Horses have been
| found to be the best suited for the work
/ Smaller animals, such as guinea pigs, are
| unable to withstand the effect of the poison-
| GUS bacilli and die. A horse is sufficiently
| robust to endure the experience without in
jury. BY hypodermic syringe the solution
/ of toxin of diphtheria is injected into horse.
| The spot usually chosen is the flank. About
| the only effect noticeable is rise in the
| temperature for short time. After while
| the injection is repeated. The process is con-
| tinued until the animal exhibits no effect
! whatever from the toxin. When 1t arrives
/ at such a condition 1t is immune from diph-
/ iberia. 1t may take from four to six months
| to put the animal into condition of im-
| munity. One manner of ascertaining the in1-l
munity OF the inoculated animal is to draw
/ some blood serum from ii and then injectl
| it into another healthy animal If no effect Isl
| produced upon the second animal the horse
/ is known to be immune. The blood serum
/ of the animal then is ready for use on diph-
l A
| that solution Is anti-toxin. DR.. Behring, who
| has used anti-toxin since its discovery,
/ has found that the most favorable place for
1 injecting ii by hypodernnic syringe Is at the
| lower angle of the scapula or shoulder blade:
DIR. Duryea has found in the cases treated
| at the Kingston hospital that equally
/ good results have been obtained from injec-
| IN the back.
The manner of ascertaining whether or
| not patient has true diphtheria is as fol-
| lows: From the membrane in the throat
| is prepared d culture, which. after being for
Sides for aph
liberia bacilli are found then the case is
known to be true one OF that disease,
/ liberia taken to the Kingston avenue Hos
pital and the microscopic examination is
| the direction of DR.. Ezra Wilson, the bac-
ter.ologist of the health department.
| But one injection of anti-toxin is made in
| case of diphtheria- Two cubic centlmet-
| ers is an average dose for an adult. The
| amount injected is Increased or. diminished,
| however. according to the age and con-
dition of the patient and the severity of
in the patient is rise in Temperatures
| of from one half to one degree This follows
| three or four hours after the injection and
| usually last from two to three hours There
is slight fever In the cases treated by
| DR. Duryea the average duration Of the
| attack of diphtheria was five days. Thus
| it viii be seen that anti-toxin is very
| rapid cure
CURED IN FOUR DAYS.
| There was one instance this year where a
| fay off va fal n he hos a5f.tl
| all suffering from diphtheria. Four were
| given the anti-toxin treatment and ware
| discharged in from four to five days. The
| fifth, who was put upon another treatment.
! was not discharged until three weeks had
| elapsed. DIR. Duryea said that in the two
| fatal cases at the hospital the membrane
| was eight or nine days old. The age OF
| the membrane made the cases most
favorable ones for treatment
The anti-toxin does its work after one
injection. Its operation is to destroy the
baclIli of the disease in the system No
other treatment is given a patient at the
| same time save of supporting and anti
| septic nature. The difficulty with aistI-
TO get regulapitv in strength. The seanns
drawn from one horse may be OF different
strength from that drawn from another.
| Each solution has a standard of strength
| of its own. No virtue is claimed for the
treatment IN cases of diphtheria where the
| membrane is more than four or five days
old. A weaker solution than anti-toxin is
also prepared, called immunization fluid. It
is for the purpose of inoculatl ting those who
have been exposed to diphthera, but who
have not developed the ssease. The process
of inocula ton is the same as in developed
cases.
Dr. Duryea conducted the reporter to the
stable on the hospital premises and had
the two horses which have been inocIilatei
with toxin trotted out. One OF the animals
is twenty three years old and fairly lively
for its age. II frsked about the yard when
allowed to run loose and apparently en-
joyed its freedom. slight mark on the
| flank showed where DIR. Wilson had in
| jected the toxin. The other horse is OF
| rather lean build and was purchased at a
! moderate figure for the express purpose
of being inoculated. Neither animal appears
to be at all inconvenenced by the presence
of toxin in his system. 1t IL five weeks
since the first injections were made in
the horses 1t may be six months before
the animals are in a state of complete iEri-
| munty. DIR. Duryea Is of the opinion that
the anti-toxin obtained from them will be
the first produced Ina this country, as he
believes that his horses are a few days
! ahead OF some other animals which are
undergoing a similar treatment IN New
York
Mayor Sehieren visited the hospital plant
on Saturday and greatly pleased with
what he saw. The new building. which con-
tains the laundry, nurses quarters and dis
inf. Is Ia "a tlf