Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-23
FEVER GERM
Discovered by Experts of the Ma
rine Hospital Service.
OF SANARELLFS CLAIM
The Bacillus microbes is the Cause
Of the Disease,
T FACTS FROM REPORTS

The preliminary reports of the medical
| officers detailed by direction of the Prcsi-
dent commission to investigate in Ua-
| vana the cause of yellow fever submitted
| recently, are of great interest at this time
| because of the controversy over the Miller
! case. The commission was composed Of
Surgeon Nasdin and Passed Assistant Sur
geon H. D. Geddings of the marine hos
pital service
| In tins connection attention is called to
| the denial by DR.. Doty. quarantine officer
of New York city, while here last week,
| that medical science has shown that d
| germ causes yellow fever
| After referring to his Pat holo:ic and llac-
teriologfc work in New Orleans during the
| fever there last fail and the cultures he
preserved from the blood and organs OBJ
tanned, DR.. Wasdin's report continues:
| owing to unavoidable DELAYS the labo-
| latory installation was not completed
| until near the middle OF January 1875
and from this TINE unr;l our work was
| discontinued, on MaIcn L.. By your direc-
| ton, the number Of cases OF yellow fever
| was very limited. 1t was during mis-
| period that opportunity was had 10 thor
| oughly examine the cultures obtained III
| the United States Here | must state
| that ar impetus had been given the mattel
| OF GEOLOGIC investigation by the Annalcs
| de llnstttut Pasteur for June, 1891. OF the
| claim by Professor Guiseppe Sanarelli al
| the University of MonteVideo, J-ruguay
| that he had discovered in his bacillus icIe-
| roides the cause of this disease.
The Sanarclii Organism
| THE semi-determnation of DR.. G. NJ.
| Sternberg, L. S. A, that the bacillus y
| tbacIlus cunicucida Havaniensis). discov-
| cred by him III 1889 was the cause of this
| fever, had been withdrawn (al, and the
| claim of other discoverers negated d. so
J that it was incumbent upon Us to at once
| ascertain whether the organism which San
| areli described, the bacillus ictcroides. was
| to be found in the cultures made by me in
| New Orleans, and, if so, to ascertain hy
| comparative necropsies, performed upon
| bodies of those dead from disease other
! than yellow fever, whether this new organ
! ism had been overlooked. or rot detected
| by Stcrrberg in his justly celebrated work
| in this field, since he had declared that
| there was nothing in the blood or organs
| of yello W fever patients which he had not
! detected. To this emu each case neCropSied
| at New Orleans was patiently and thor
| oughly plated from young houiion cultures
| from the original and subsequent paintings
| these originals having been taken from
| blood, spleen, liver and kidneys, the por-
| lions of organs in many cases having been
| incubated twelve hours prior to the inocu-
| lation of the tubes, as advised both by
| Sternberg and Sanarelli.
| Besides these cultures those taken from
| living patients at the isolation division of
the Marine Hospital detention camp at
! Fontainebleau, Miss, were also carefully
| examined. It was from the blood of one
! of these cases, Goodrich planted ON Sep
| tcmber Is 1897 that the most typical forms
| of colonization, TO those described by Saua-
| relli for bacillus icteToides were noticed. Of
| IL small rod actively cat firsD motile: rot
| retaining the stain after Gram, but which
| later in New Orleans gave rise to the pro-
| duction Of indol and the formation of gas
| with both glucose and lactoSe. This or
| ganisn, as at first noted more nearly re-
| sembled that of Sanarelli than any other
| isolated at the time left the labora-
| tory at New Orleans, and it was now taken
| up for more careful observation than had
been then possible.
| Independent Cultures.
For unanimity of purpose it was thought
| best that each Of us should prepare indie
pendently, cultures of each and every spec
| linen on hand, and carry them to def
mite termination, decision which afforded
much satisfaction al the termination Of the
| tedious and eNactiHg la Dor of plating and
| REPEATING so large number of organisms
| in that while we succeeded in a number Of
| cases in detecting the organism in both
sets OF cultures. it occasionally occurred
| that it was found by only one of us in a
special one.
| 1t is gratifying to say that the organism
was readily and quickly isolated by both
| oil us from the Goodrich cultures since the
contamination. which shrouGed its fine
| characteristics in regard to gas and indol
production, was a simple colon bacillus
| 1hls was. therefore, the highly motile or
ganizatlon first noted by me at Ocean
Springs, and which could only have been
that of Sanarelli, or, as was feared one
| of the Proteus family, and therefore the
earliest Sanarelh organism isolated after
that author Early in our effort to detect
| this new bacillus 1t was ascertained that
| its Symbiosis with any member of the colon
| group materially influenced it's marked
| mobility. the germ seemingly becoming in
nblted by the product of the colon organ
| ism botn iii growth and mobility. Bearing
| this in mind, it became an easier matter to
detect 1t, and it was my fortune to isolate
1t from the cultures on hand in II pe~
cent (a). Concomtantly with this work it
was my special effort 10 determine whether
the bacillus icleroides was to be found in
| the blood or organs of bodies deal from
other diseases than from yellow fever. ard
for this purpose i conducted ct the city
| morgue and more frequently al the morgue
| of the Hospital de Alphonso XIII. a num-
Der of necropsies CID, selecting bodies of
patients who had suffered from malaria.
| with no suspicion of specific yellow fever.
| or from dysentery. With the exception OF
necropsy No. e, none of these gave
| ganism approaching in characteristics that
| of Sanareli, the majority of cases giving
an admixture of colon and proteus in
riety.
Meets the Demands.
In this exception the organism isolated
so fully met the demands of Sanarelli, in
| regard to its growth and physiologic as
poets, that it was thought the bacillus had
| been found in this case of simple camp dys-
entery, until on the fifteenth day it was
| found to be quite slowly !iquefying geia-
| tin 20 per cent in combination with l per
| cent agar. Further plating in effort to
| eliminate any contamt nation to which such
| Nquefaction may have been due was pre-
| vented by our departure from Havana
DIR. Goddings' Report.
| Surgeon Geddings, in his report, makes a
review of the question uD to the time he
entered upon the work in Havana and
| then he says:
| TT is perfectly natural that disease so
well marked in its gross pathology and
| clinical history should, from a very early
| time, nave afforded field for minute in
vestigation long before the time that the
| discoveries of Pasteur, Koch and others
! changed the germ theory of disease into
| a system. With the advent of means of
| more correct investigation with the dis
| coveries of the specific cause of other in
| fectious diseases as guide, it was per-
| fectly natural that a disease at once so
peculiar and possessing SO much interest