The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-26
SURE TEST FOR TYPHOID
There is No Longer Need for
the Long Delays in Deter.
mining the Dread Disease.
From the New York Herald.

| From the New York Herald.
Little is now spoken of in the realm
of bacteriology as being impossible or
beyond the reach of science. but the
latest discovery in that branch of medi-
cine has aroused the whole profession
and set every important laboratory in
the country at work. 1t Is of far more
interest to the world at large than
most scientific discoveries seem, Tor II
is of immediate benefit to the pubic,
and the new knowledge can at once be
put to practical uses. What has been
found, in brief, Is test for the early
diagnosing of typhoid fever. the dis
ease that so frequently battles physi-
clans and Is often not recognized as ty-
phoid until it is well advanced.
The new test. known as the blood test.
has never once failed in the hundreds
of experiments made in this country
and abroad. and now Is an accepted sci
cntitic fact. Within the last few days
the METEOROLOGICAL laboratory OF the
board of health of this city has set the
seal of confirmation on this new sys-
TEN of typhoid diagnosis by announcing
that they have made this fall more than
100 tests, and all with success.
ACCOMPLISHED IN NEW YORK.
If there be typhoid, shows out clearly
and Enthusiastically. So far as this city
Is concerned, the practical advantages
of the discovery are that the blood Of
any suspected typhoid case will be ex-
amined by bacterioloSists Of the health
hoard and report on it made at once.
The tests take only few moments,
and the matter has been SO simplifled
that 1t is now possible for doctor
to send down a drop OF dried blood
on a card and have 1t examined.
Doctors, for years past, have talked
about typhoid symptoms" and many
treatises have been written explaining
and eXpounding them. Many of these
symptoms are so marked and SO import
ant that they have been called Char
aCteristc." But the entire medical pro-
tession has always found that these
symptoms were only of value when q
great number of them were present at
once. One, two or three might occur.
and yet another and totally different
disease develop.
"SYMPTOMS" ALMOST USELESS.
For example, rose spots" is one Of
the most important symptoms, but 1t Is
absent In fully thirty per cent Of ty-
phoid cases. and seldom appears in any
of the disease. Enlargement of the
spleen is another symptom, but this
exists also lii malaria and military tu-
berculOsis
And so the symptoms run. Taken
singly it Will be seen they are of little
value, and thus diagnosis and treat
ment have frequently had to he delay
ed day after day.
The new test in detail is beautifully
simple. From a complicated scientific
process 1t is reduced to a few move-
ments of the hand of an expert bacteri-
ologist, and all Is done. The drop of
dried blood taken from the lobe of
the ear or the tip OF the finger of q sus-
pected typhoid patient and sent to the
laboratory on a card is mixed with
sterilized water and fraction of 1t
put on Il microscopic slide. To this a
drop. or portion of drop, of pure
typhoid culture Is added. This typhoid
culture is part ana portion of labOra-
tOry's outfit nowadays, and has been
ever since this discovery was made,
The Slide Is then put under the micro
scope.
SEEN IN THE LENS.
Now, as all these experiments have
proved. one OF two things will happen.
Either the typhoid germ existed in that
portion of the drop Of blood mixed with
the typhoid culture or 1t did not. No
ordinary microscopic investigation
can tell anything conclusive about that
drop of blood unmixed. But-and this
Is one OF the mysteries of science-as
soon as the mixture on the slide Is
brought within the field of vision and
the hacteriologist can distinctly see it,
the bacilli Of typhoid already existing
in the typhoid culture either move
about as before or there is accusation
Of the rush to and fro of these min
ute bodies and an agglutination or con.
centrat1on OF the organisms into large
clusters.
If the bacilli move and keep separate
there Is no typhoid in the blood of the
person under examination If the ba-
cilli cluster and stay quiet typhoid ex-
lists, or else has existed in the system
Wltnln slX years, a matter which can
be very easily learned from the patient
himself
No febrile diseases, no malaria or any
other malady in the blood will cause
this concentration of bacilli. This the
experiments have conclusiyely estab-
lished. The test is therefore absolute.
HISTORY OF THE TESTS.
The discovery was originally made
by Robert Pfeiffer, of Berlin, Koch's
assistant in the fall of 1894, but he kept
the secret to himself for many months.
and 1t was not until late in 1895 that
other European scientists were working
actively upon it. Gruber and Durham
in Berlin. confirmed Pfeiffer, Gruber
much simplifying the process. Vidal.
In Paris made at the same time a SER
les OF important experiments, writing
at length regarding their success in the
spring of this year and Bordet pub
lished an article retailing the history of
what had been done.
Wtdafs process was much SIMMER
than either Pfeifer's or Gruber's. but
1t remained for a Canadian. WYATT
johnson. of Montreal. bacteriologist TO
the board of health there, to devise a
test along the same scientific lines. bur
so simple that 1t could readily be mt
into operation and results obtained
quickly.
This process he described in a paper
read before the American Medical osso-
citation, in October, and it is this that
has been taken up SO generally and
speedily, and has Just been described as
being In use In New York and else
where.