New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-21
NEW TYPHOID FEVER TREATMENT,
FRENCH EXPERIMENTS IN FIGHTING DISEASE
INCUBATION.

FRENCH EXPERIMENTS IN FIGHTING DISEASE
BY INCUBATION.
Not only the medical profession. but the scentia-
cay inclined portion Of the general public have
watched with eager interest the rapid development
of new method of treating disease within tho
last five six years one malady after another
has been found to be associated with the presence
of a specific microbe in the system; and then this
microbe, dead alive, directly or indirectly, has
been tried in remedial preventive measures. Tho
most positive success Of this sort has been attained
with the of antitoxin in diphtheria, but
aging results have also been obtained by the same
general method in dealing with ockiaw. hydro
phoba and cholera. Hopes have recently been
cited that the bubonic plague OF Asia can be over
come in this way, and there Is prospect that
tuberculosis and pneumonia will yet succumb TO
treatment by incubation.
The latest reports in regard TO experiments in
vaccination with germ poison relate to typhoid
fever. 1t appears that Professors Wright and Sem
pie OF the Army Medical School in Netley, Eng
land. have been at work in this direction for
than year Dead hut still poisonous typhoid ba-
Gill were used. Cultures of the latter (of course,
still alive first made in agar, an Oriental gel
atne. Such cultures kept at blood heat for
twenty-four hours and then mixed with carefully
measured quantities Of sterile broth, In order to get
a permanently liquid emulsion. The latter is then
carefully sterilized glass tubes, 'pipettes, the
mouths Of which Theoretically sealed In a fame.
The contained bacilli are now killed by the INNER
sion of the tubes in water at 140 degrees Fahren-
heit for five minutes. The tubes well shaken
before the fluid is used to distribute the dead
bacteria evenly through the broth
Before making any tests on human subjects Drs.
Wright and Semple injected doses OF various sizes
under the skin of guinea pigs. They invariably
found that illness. In corresponding degrees OF in
tensity, produced. This den Cnstrated the pol
sonOus effect Of the preparation. Afterward eigh-
teen soldiers mostly officers. were inoculated. 1t
will be observed that these not already
i'll. and then cured by incubation. But the expert
ment was, nevertheless. instructive. IT had al
ready been discovered that you could test the value
of an antitoxic serum by letting drop of II fall
into colony of the live bacteria Of the particular
disease for which the serum was prepared. II tho
little creatures were paralyzed became clustered
together instead of retaining their individuality.
and were precipitated sort OF sediment, then
the fluid under examination potent TO STAY
them ~ II were introduced into the human body.
Now samples OF the blood OF these soldiers exhib-
tied this paraly2ing. aggutinatng power on live
the had become proof, or immune" as tho
doctors call It, against the disease This work 10
not to be accepted final yet but II Is highly en-
couraging. 1t not only justifies hope that physi-
clans may one day fight typhoid fever as success
fully as they do diphtherta, by incubation but *
will inspire workers in parallel lines with that pur-
sued by Behring. Koch, Wright and Sempe. Ihe
New York Medical Record" from which the fore
going information is chiefly obtained. remarks:
"Inasmuch as the vaccinations can be practised
without risk and their adequacy can be easily con-
that n would be expediant for all those 10 submit
IN vaccination who are likely 10 be frequently ex-
posed TO the risk OF typhoid infection. e. e.. young
soldiers going abroad to typhoid infected districts
nyrses In attendance upon typhoid patients, and
nersons living in a district that Is being visited by
an epidemic OF typhoid.