The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-17
THE YELLOW FEVER CURE.
DR. SANARELLI TESTS HIS SERUM IN
n BRAZILIAN EPIDEMIC

n works Admirably az n Preventive, and
successfully in the First Stages of the
Disense-Kills BaoilIi, but IL Not nm
Antito1in-A Whole Jail InocuiRted ut
san Cnrlos-Tho Sac PAuIo Experiment..
Dr, Giuseppe Sanarelli. the discoverer Of the
vellow fever serum. or, as he calls II, the anti
amarillo serum. has had an opportunity to test
the efficacy Of his remedy on human beings
In the epidemic that is now raging In southern
Brazil, The result Of his experiences with the
preventive and curative properties OF tho
serum, in actual practice in January and Feb
rnry Of this year. he has told In an article pub
lished in the Annales do rInstitui Fnsteup at the
end Of May, u translation Of which follows:
There is but ono way leading to n specific
treatment of yellow fever to-day It is that OF
serothornpy. The hope OF obtaining q serum that
has at the same time curative and preventive
qualities is based oil the practical observation
Of W important phenomena: the fact that peo-
rIe born in the yellow fever countries or who
have lived there for a long time grow accus-
toned to the poison, acclimatiZation, as it IL
properly called. aud the fact that immunity is
acquired after an attack of tho disease. The
latter fact is one OF the general laws that
govern almost all acute infectious d~iseases. As
for naturalization. we can discern in that
to-day nothing more than the phenomenon
OF becoming poison proof by absorbing the
yellow fever poison. q phenomenon which our
present knowledge allows us to understand
easily.
The easy and rapid habituation TO small doses
Of this poison. which has been brought out
clearly by my experiments on man, give an ap-
proximatc idea Of what probably occurs in ma
ture.
The serum intended for the prevention and
treatment of yellow fever In man is obtained
from animals vaccinated against the icteroid
bacillus and supporting n dose Of yellow fever
virus several times stronger than is needed to
produce death but besides it must also be able
20 prevent and cure experimental yellow fever
infection in guinea pigs. 1t is needless to
speak here Of the preparation OF the serum the
process differs from others only In the diff
Guilty found in thoroughly vaccinating the ami
NAL. In horses n constant intensive treatment
for twelve or fourteen months is needed. The
yellow fever serum does not net like tho diph-
theritic serum. have lot yet discovered the
presence Of any antitoxic substances in vacci-
mated animals.
Dogs. which after a year or more OF intensive
vaccination. can stand a dose Of virus several
times stronger than a mortal dose, vomit, fall
exhausted. and show a marked elevation of
temperature after each new injection. Here Is
an example: A well-vaccinated dog that had
been treated for more than fifteen months, and
which furnished an excellent curative and pre-
ventive serum for guinea pigs. died In forty
eight hours after an occluded phlebitis which
had permitted the accidental multiplication OF
injected icteroid bacilli. The autopsy showed
that all the viscera we're sterile. and the fatty
degeneration OF the liver was such that chemi-
cal analysis gave 32.72 per cent. OF fatty SUBJ
stance. a quantity much greater than any hith-
erto marked. not merely In yellow fever and
other ~steatogenous diseases Of man. but even
In the most serious experimental poisoning
with phosphorus or arsenic.
All this shows distinctly that the vaccinated
stage Is not. up to the present, characterized by
the presence OF antitoxic substances. and that
the yellow fever serum can only act eficacious-
ly before the quantity OF poison formed In the
organism has become sufficient to be fatal to
the ratient. The serum. like several others al
ready known. but which have not been used
successfully outside Of laboratories, acts, there
Tore, against microbes. but not against their
'~toSines; it is bactericidal and not antitoxic,
It's employment In the of yellow fever
can. consequently. be eflcacious only in case Of
early Intervention. This will certainly be the
chief obstacle to the employment OF serothera-
py against yellow fever in practice.
Yellow fever presents itself to those who
have not seen 1t close ut hand. and especially to
European physicians who have not travelled.
in m aspect very different from the reality. It
is compared often to cholera, and the idea Is
prevalent that the chief lesion in the disease,
ls referred and almost specific seat. Is tho
fastro-lntcstinn cavity. In opposition to this
idea. have shown that yellow fever must be-
placed In rho CtrnIlp ~ tyTh,,o Jiaaoooo IA a.
fever disease, essentially poisonous, whose
most serious and most i'm portant complications
are lar from being confined to the digestive
cavity,
Very often the patients show albuminuria,
anuria, and are often even delirlous before any
symptoms have appeared In the digestive cav
ny In certain OF the epidemics the hemor-
rhaSic and intestinal phenomena are almost the
exception, while the early, unfailing. and mex
orable sign is anuria. Now. when the renal ap-
paratus is assailed by the yellow fever toxin
ana when. in addition to this specific poisoning.
the organism must resist urpmic poisoning MS
W,eL' Intervention with the serum treatment
becomes useless and u matter OF chance.
Atthe beginning Of this year I already had q
gooa serum. very active on the animals in the
MIGRATORY and coming from two horses that
hau Deen under treatment. tho first for eighteen
"hH IAc SeCOuu IOT u year, WHICH i nave
marked A and +, respectively. / had besides
anox' which. aftera years treatment, furnished
aserum acting pretty weakly. 1 wished to try
the serum Oh diseased man. and / W the first
observations OF the real action of the yellow
Fever serum to my friend. DR.. Seidl. Director
VI the 81. Sebastian Hospital at Rio Janeiro.
ne, with his assistants, tried serum A. which I
nau sent him in December. 1897. on eight pa
uonls VINO presented ut different periods the
most marked characteristics OF yellow fever.
VI The eight. five had already reached the
a n'O very a ssrIS 81 the co6 daififsiSse' P6d were s. IL
sG9GWed anuria and all were delirious, The last
NJ sno hye' although In a very serious state,
Rw.vaehted neither anurla nor dellrium. and
"IS She only one who recovered. having re-
serum. NN"S VI '"o
OI three other patients subjected to the
one eTLuin treatment at the, st, Sebastian Hospital,
SSv was IN the second day and two in the third
e II stage o. the disease; they all had. the prin-
album ymEtohis q yellow fever. including
t t6aT InG n%Necrryons system did not seem to be
eHaarrnnea, These three patients recovered after
tbvrsclc treatment with serum and in the