Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-11-22
INFECTIOUS CASES
CAN ALL Be CURED.
DISCOVERY OF OPSONINS IS GREAT
BOON FOR MANKIND, SAY
DOCTORS.
EXPERIMENT WITH REWSERUM
Helps White Blood CorpuscIes to Over
come Disease-Acts as a Chill"
Sauce, Say Chemists.

! Sauce, Say Chemists.
/ MADISON. Wis, Nov. 15.-[Spe-
I GALA correspondence course of
twelve lessons on the theory of immun-
/ ity from communicable diseases has just
/ been inaugurated by DR.. William ID.
! Frost Of the bacterioIogy department of
the University Of Wisconsin for the ply
sicians Of the state. In connection with
this important new extension work it
| is planned to bring the medical men to
the university for two weeks i'll the fine
/ ly equipped laboratories of the bacteria
! logical department, one week between
Semesters in February and one at the
close Of the college year in June.
! An important part Of the instruction
in the new course i'll immunity is the
study Of the opsonic index theory, one
Of the most interesting of recent deveI-
UpmentS III the prevention and cure OF
! infectious diseases. The opsonins DR..
/ Frost popularity describes as the chilli
sauce for bacteria, preparing them as
/ food for the white blood corpuscels, so
| that they may be absorbed and de-
/ stroycd. He has been studying the the
DRY and its application to various dis
eases in the university laboratories, and
| in conjunction with Madison physicians
| has treated several serious cases. His
| explanation Of the new treatment is
! therefore authoritative, and its evident
! value in medical practice makes 1t OF
| peculiar interest.
Useful in Many Diseases.
The discovery of the opsonins and the
| relation which they sustain to the treat
/ ment of certain infectious diseases has
| created Il great deal Of discussion, first
among physicians, and lately among the
| laity," says DR.. Frost. BY many it is
| considered that no more important dis
.oyery has been announced since the anti
toxine treatment for diphtheria was Civ
en- to the world. Certain it is that fol
! lowing the use Of the procedures deveI-
! Oped in connection with this line of work
! very remarkable results have been Sc
cured, not only by Sir A. e. Wright Of
! England, who discovered the OpsOnins,
/ but also my many workers III various
parts of the world. For certain dis
eases it has been found possible to pro-
| duce antitOXnes, as for example, lock-
jaw and hay fever, but particularly for
| diphtheria For other diseases it is pos
sible to make antiseria, which are not
| antitOXic in nature but do haye the pow
er OF destroying the infectious agent.
! For a third class of diseases, however it
| is impossible to secure seria either TO
| antagOniZe the toxins or microbes. 1t is
! for this class of diseases that the new
| therapy is especially applicable. Against
these diseases successful vaccinations
| have been made, and will undoubtedly
! be found increasingly useful. The dis
/ eases applicable to this method of treat
ment include localized and chronic in
! fectiOns such as acne, various abcesses,
! gonOrhOea and localized infections having
general symptoms, as tuberculosis, and
| a "a al Of rs.lI and 70
nature as blood poison and pneumonia
all have been successfully treated"
Chill Sauce for Microbes.
For more than a quarter of CEN
| tUry," continues DR.. Frost. ''the theory
that the white blood cells or leucOcytos
act III the body as policemen who attack
and destroy the invading microbes, has
been prominently before the world. That
these cells can and do take up living mi
Cr0bes in their bodies and destroy them
| is Well-knOWn fact, but that this power
| to INCEST microbes depends upon the pres
ence in the blood serum of certain sub
stances was discovered by Sir A. Il.
Wright of London i'll 1902. These sub
stances act on the microbes and not on
the white blood cells. They are the chilli
sauce for the bacteria, preparing the
bacteria as food for the white blood cells,
and are hence called opsonins, from a
Latin word meaning i cater to-
Index Explained.
Wright and his associates, further
more, devised way of measuring guam
titatively the relative amount of opsOnin
which the blood of given individual
may possess. This amount, compared
with the normal, gives what is now gen
orally known as the OpsOnic index. 1t
is ordinarily found that an individual
having Il low resisting power toward
particular micro-crganism has Il low OPP
sonic index. The opsonic index deter
minatiOn in the hands of some workers
is regarded as Il valuable means of as
sisting diagnosis. For example, in an
| incipient case of tuberculosis Il per-
SiStently low OpsOnic index against the
bacillus of tuberculosis would Indicate
that the individual was suffering from
tuberculosis.
Making Opsonins.
The chief value of the opsonic index
determinations has been the control Of
the process of immuniZatiOn. or vaccina-
ton" DR.. Frost points out. in OpSO-
ME therapy the vaccineS are prepared by
taking the micrObe causing the condition
to be treated and heating it in a water
/ bath to a temperature sufficient high to
just kill the micrObe The exact num-
Der of microbes in this killed culture or
vaccine are then accurately determined,
and 4 certain number of dose varying
from a few thousand to some hundred
thousand, are INJECTED. tOllOWlng an IN
lection Of vaccine there is at first a
| temporary but varying amount Of lower
ed resistance. The amount varies with
the size Of the dose. This lowering of
the resisting powers of the blood is
quickly followed by a rise in the resist
ing powers, or in the amount of Opsonins
present.
Controls Vaccination.
The great value of the determinations
| is in that it enables the physician to fix
upon the proper dose of vaccine. which IS
such an amount as will produce the least
lowered resistance compared with sat
isfactory increase in resistance In many
cases it seems necessary, in order to Sc
cure the best results. to make 4 vaccine
from the particular strain of microbe pro-
ducng the infection. Standard vaccines
have a less satisfactory effect.
That favorable results are obtained
by the use of these yaccines can hardly
be questioned. There is. however, con
siderable doubt in the minds of some
workers as to the accuracy of the pres
ent methods for determining the opsonic
( index. In many cases and in many dis
/ eases the proper dose of vaccine has
/ been so frequently determined that it is
/ unnecessary to make the index determi-
nations"