The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-09-29
GOOD RESULTS
 IN SERUM THERAPY
iDr. FIsxnsr Reports B8 RecoYeries Out
 of 7l2 Cases of Meningitis.

New York, Sept. 29.-Dr, Simon F1ex- ner, Director of the Rockefeller Insti- tute of Medical Research. made an en- oouraging report on the present status of the serum treatment of epidemic cerebro spinal meningitis at the recent meeting of the American Medical As sociation, at Atlantic City. His ex- perience with the serum. which is his; own discovery. was confirmed by other physicians, in the course of their prac- tices Says the eNew York Medical Journal:
 .Dr. Flexncr said that it was now three years since the introduction of the serum treatment. About 700 eases had been treated to the exclusion of other treatment. The disease was most fatal when it prevailed as an epidemic. It did not always present itself charac- teristieally until lumbar puncture was made and the diplococcus intracellu- laris was found. The organism was specific. The mortality was about 75 per cent. in the past epidemics.
 He had collected 712 eases treated by the serum. In these. 488 patients had recovered. and PA had died. giv- 1 ing a mortality of 31.4 per cent. The 1 in the tabulation. Children under two years had heretofore usually died. Of | 1O4 treated by the serum 60 recovered and A died. a mortality of 42s per cent.
 "He was confident it was no acci- dent that the mortality had been low cred by this treatment. The fact of
 the high mortality in persons of twen-
 ty years and over he could not ex- plain. The more experienced the phy7 sician was with the serum the more l apt the patient was to recover. The l illuminating cases were more common l during this period of life. The serum
 should be introduced into the spinal
 disease It tended to reduce the in | dammation and prohibited the free l development of the micro-organisms, the disease not extending beyond three 1 to seven days.
 l Complete nerve deafness was pres 1 ent in a certain number of eases treat
 ed with the serum. One should em- ploy 1t early, in large doses and only 1 by injection into the spinal canal. It
 was harmless.
 "There was no danger in the over production of pressure, although 1t was l advisable to remove as much fluid as | possible before the injection of the
 serum. Whenever one was in doubt of the diagnosis an exploratory lumbar puncture should be done.
 Il "Dr. T. M. Rotch of Boston said | that before the serum treatment in his
 cases the mortality was from 50 to 8f
 per cent. The mortality fell from 8( to IS per cent. on the use of the Flex-
 ner serum. The amount of serum in N jected varied according to the disease;
 thirty to forty c. c. was usually suH-
 cient. The mistake was, usually in giving too little. It should be repeated
 at least once a day until the organism
 disappeared.
 "In the cases in which the patient did not respond it was probable that the organisms were in some portion of the brain not reached by the serum or that there were certain strains o1 1.-the organism that were resistant tc : the serum.
 ; "Dr. Litterer of Nashville said that he had used the serum in fourteen
 cases, and four of the patients had 7 died. He believed those that die6 } could have been saved by injecting the
 serum into the ventricles of the brain