The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1901-10-05
"a A gle r Oh III NJ i Il OBEs,
SCIENTISTS TRYING 70 IDENTIFY
THE RHEUMATISM MIGRoBE. &

4 Presents Day Iaasessi gators Do Not At
8 tribute Acute anfia n,mat tory Rleuma-
3s, tisrn to the Same Organism. as Do Their
Pred cessors Nesvly ou1nd Diplo cocous.
his is the age OF microbes. The
disease that has no microbe to which
PATERNITY can be traced is not worthy
OF the sconsid eratiOn of the medical fra
Ssernity and people of quality will re-
TsIIu}se to entertain lit on any consid era-
\ ton Ion ysicians of high standing de-
4 g sare that a good deal of evidence that
rheumatic fever is an infectious dis
J ease has accumulated within the last
b B ten ten years, and while that theory is not
yet Ito be regarded as fully esta blished,
it has apparently gained some ground
even this very spring. The Philadel-
phia Medical Journal refers to it as
the more generally accepted view
TO which the Tactic acid and nervous
origin explanations have given place
to some extent. One Of the reasons
Tor snspeeting that this disorder might
4 pc infectious is that several cases will
often occur in the same house, and it
is peculiarly prevalent in large COM
munitles Again, it has been asserted
that the mortality and frequency OF
rheumatic fever fuctuate in the same
Il way as those OF erysipelas and scarlet
fever Now, infectious maladies are
all attributed to micro-organisms, and
as soon as suspicion was excited the
search began for bacteria which
should. prove to be characteristic of
the malady in question. One expert
hunted in the blood; another directed
his attention to the tonsils; third ex-:
amined the synoVial fluid, or lubricant
OF the joints; fourth tested other
secretions, including exudations from
the heart. The first definite declara-
ton of a discovery was made in 1891,
4 when Bonchard and Charm believed
that they had found in the joint fluid
a certain well known organism hither-
to associated with suppuration This
& was the staphylococcus pyogenes al
bus. The presence Of this microbe in
/ the joint would not prove much, con-
s1dered by itself, but in 1893 st, Ger
main succeeded in producing an in
f1ammation of the joints by inoculat-
Ing an animal with staphylococci. OF
course, a single instance would not
settle the question, but the experiment
was highly suggestive, to say the least.
Since that time several other investi-
gators have found microbes in the
blood or secretions. Sometimes these
organisms were identified as the
4 aureus, OF CITRUS" instead of the
albus, but they were staphylococci
Occasionally, however, another mi
crobe thai is characteristic Of pus, a
streptococcus, was found. The latest
investigations which bear on this sub
!. ject are those of Poynton and Paine,
and are reported in the Lancet of May
1901. The Philadelphia Medical
Journal summarizes them without
comment These men assert that they
isolated diplococci in sixteen cases.
Cultures were made of organisms
found in rheumatic nodules or swell
ings and were injected into the veins
i Of rabbits. In consequence the little
creatures had pain III the joints and
inflammation Of the valves and COW
ering of the heart. The fluid in their
joints and some of the brain tissues
revealed the presence of the diplococci.
Poynton and Paine think that the
nodules of rheumatism are a particu-
larly characteristic feature of that dis
ease It will be observed that the re-
suits Of this latest inquiry differ from
those previously obtained. Strepto-
cocci look like chains of beads of prac-
tically uniform size. Staphylococci sug-
I gest rosaries, one organism longer
than the other occurring every so
often in the series. Diplococci are
usually half round objects and come
in pairs. They sometimes look like
the halves of a pea, slightly separated.
Z The pneumonia germ is diplococcus
and is pointed on one side like a raisin
II seed. But there are many other points
of difference besides those of form.
+ One takes a certain kind Of stain which
4 WILL EAOL4 2oACCL5 duOLuGI.E ouG De
cultivated in manner unlike that re
quired by another and so on. But the
most Important distinction, of course,
is that between the effects produced
on the human system when the latter
is invaded. The other characteristics
are important only as means of identi-
i fcation. It appears, then, that Poyn-
4 ton and Paine do not attribute acute
infiammatory rheumatism to the same
organism as do their predecessors.
Further study is essential, therefore,
to ascertain which of them is right.
More experiments are necessary to
clear up several phases of the matter.
a The natural history of the newly
/ found diplococcus should be fully
worked out, SO as to differentiate it
distinctly from all other microbes, and
il its responsib ility for rheumatic fever
finally be established 1t will then be
highly desirable to try to make an
{ antitoxin that will have a curative
D power. I'll &.