The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-18
YELLOW FEVER MICROBE.
slNlRELLps DLsCoTERT or THE
BACLLLUs ICTER0IDEs.


Gets 1ts WevN In ThrouGh the Respiratory
orEana Rather man the Aifnaeutnry Csnsi
-Ar Mneh Nese hanscreus Than water
Out're@ks On shipseara sne Eransr,'ssfen
A full and detailed account Of the bacillus
icfeToides, as Prot. Giuseppe Sanarelli. the dis
coverer, has named tho yellow fever microbe, II
given in tho Ldncet. In the course Of his inves-
tiRAtion DR.. Sanarelli. who was for some time
en- ,r.,rro,or n, IN. Ir,,ro-.,.v =, cIo.,. "a
.H--SSSN.sS. ,-.e- " n.
NOV pFe s"soos OF hygiene IN inc Monsovideo
.susn' = Io.et, n ~.ef recovet'he con
Island OF Flores and in the Saint Sebastian Hos.
pital Al Rio Jnneiro, At the end Of Last wear \.
felt sure that he had caught the bacillus. and
after checking his earlier studies BY a new In
right, he announced the result to the world.
1t was ut the Flores lazaret that he first came
upon the mierooe- AT nrst ne round diniculty
in distinguishing the particular germ that he
AtIa.t ~ ts.ns =. sIn nuU"eN
i" no iouno IT, 9i"ays preserving i0S cnar-
actortstic features, though never unaccompanied
nscta.ion u -" na. a. -.
o.% % nov IN the anmentaly canai
tnat ne discovered IL. In fact, he has never de-
tected It there. He found IL in the circulation
and In tho ,i.suos ana - wa. ali. - 80
current belief that the poison Of yellow fever
resides in the bowels.
inc odeHtus 'eterotdes looks like q very small
" oastonctno,' or rod. with rounded xtremitie
It Is generally combined in pairs in the cultures
and q, littI. ,-o,,. a. - -. y,SN
~ ~ A.ae ksoupS III the tissucs- IT'S from
two to four thousandths OF a In
length, and generally two ar three timcs Al LONG
.sit "a hroas ~ S.us.Su, 80. q tous
"o"- oah"reih comes 10 the con-
that II causes disease in thu majority Of domes.
nc animals: Every mammal showed itself moro
or iess sensitive to its pathogenic action. but 1t
had little effect on fowls or birds. 1t kills white
mice In five days, the infection working through
every channel. including respiration. When
they once enter the organism the microbes
collect in greatest force in the spleen,
where they remain during the whole evo-
BILE multiplication. After six or seven days
they suddenly pass into the circulation, begin to
reproduce. and kill by blood poisoning. Rabbits
dying in four to hve days IL the poison has en-.
tered by the subcutaneous tissues, and in two
fever produced in the dog is shown 10 be an In
f.ective malady due 70 a micro-organism well de-
fined and susceptible OF being cultivated BY
means of the ordinary artificial nutrients
The goat, the AIS. and the horse are equally
subject to the poison; the cat does not take 1t in
The bacillus may be isolated not only after
death, but while the patient is alive. When
isolated. It's ARCHAEOLOGICAL diagnosis can be
completed in twenty-four hours. as IL Possesses
characters SO distinct as to be readily recog-
nizable. Its being found onlv in small numbers
and the violence OF the symptoms mark its ac-
tion as that Of a very energetic poison. The
fever reproduced in man has some points in
common with typhoid fever. and Prot. Sanarclli
lays stress on the fact that the diffusion OF
the virus may DO effected through the air, as
well as by water. contagion being possible
through the respiratory system.
The bacillus favOrs the entrance into the or
ganism OF poisonous microbes, and its own ac-
ton on the liver is peculiarly energetic, causing
rapid fatty degeneration with other anatomical
injuries. to which Is due in some measure the
lctus, or yellow color, characteristic OF the dis
case. The liver loses all functional activity,
while it resists the poisons and microbes which
would otherwise attack the organism from the
intcstines, but fails to act against them when
these microbes have overcome its resisting
power. They in this way conquer and eliminate
the bacillus icteroides, and thus it happens
that the bacillus is no longer found in
post'mortem examinations. and when found is
always in company with other kinds OF microbes.
The bacillus acts on the kidney by producing in
tlammation OF peculiar intensity. This is fol-
lowed by lesiuns shown by the albuminuria
characteristic of the last period OF yellow fever;
then suppression OF urine supcrvenes. the result
Of n true and idiopathic uramia.' So that
patients who 10 not directly succGfnb to the poi
son and injuries caused ny the bacillus may die
by the secondary infection or by urpmia.
Having shown how the bacillus works when II
Is IN he body. DR.. Sanarelli shows how IL gets