El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-02

y
ian has registered a notable
- victory by determining the
cause Of one Of the worlds dreaded
diseases, typhus fever. Director John
F. Anderson, and surgeon Joseph
Goldberger. of the United States ny
gienic laboratory. which is a branch
of the United States public saealth and
marine hospital service, have sue
ceeded not only in demonstrating that
hvphus fever is Identical with what
has been known as BrilIs disease, but
also in proving that a body parasite
which flourishes only in dirt and
squalor is the principal if not indeed
the only, means Of spreading the dis
ease.
The case which has been made out
against these pests, which have oeeh
banished to the slums, is almost as
conclusive as the case against the eel
low fever and the malarial mosqul-
toes and awaits only a long course OF
experimentation to make II as COM
plete For many years the physicians
of the world have been coming nearer
and nearer to guessing the true cause
of typhus, and the medical literature
on the subject issued IN recent years
has described well the surroundings
which are necessary to the spread OF
typhus. and they are practically those
under which the body parasites Of the
genus pediculus flourish. Literature
Of earlier years on the subject OF ~
plus in view Of the recent discover
les, is as far wide OF the mark as was
the literature Of yellow fever written
a score Of years ago.
Another Insect Under Ban.
This discovery adds one more to the
class Of insects which are the me-
dunn of spreading dangerous diseases
Just as the mosquito Is responsible
for yellow fever and malaria, so the
flea IS responsible for bubOnic plague,
and pedeculidae for typhus. How much
further this line Of investigation viii
carry the medical world, none OF it's
authorities can predict, but the posi-
bility OF discovering other diseases
which are almost or quite wholly in
sect borne is freely conceded.
Contrary to general belief, typhua
fever exists in the slums Of many cit
les. notably in New York For years
pitfalls on the East side in New YORK
whose cases were diagnosed as ty-
phOid fever. In 1898 Dr. Nathan L.
Brill, Of that city, reported II cases
OF disease which clinically resem5led
typhoid, but which was without what
IS medically known as the Vidal re-
action. He studied these cases care
fully and gave the points Of difference
between this group Of cases and the
usual types Of typhoid. In 1910 he
reported on 221 cases in an East Side
hospital. which he had observed in a
period Of Is years.
Tries IT On Monkeys.
DR.. Brill described the disease as OF
unknown origin and unknown pathol-
Ogy, characterized by a short period
Of incubation, usually four or five
days, followed by a period Of intense
headache and continuous fever lasting
about two weeks, after which It dis
appears quickly. Later he observed
"a cases in the same hospital, all in
a single year, 1910. This report IN
cluded one case which proved fatal
and upon which an autopsy was per-
formed. From material obtained from
this autopsy DR.. Brill inoculated three
monkeys, each by a different method.
None Of the animals contracted the
disease. Later he inOculated two more
with blood obtained from patients in
the hospital and they went scot free
his final conclusion was that in the Z
absence of better proof than he pos
sessed the disease was different from 1
typhus. IN 1911 DR. G. A Friedman !
declared ii his belief that BrilFs dis I
ease was the same as moderate cases l
Of typhus.
About the time that Brill was pre- 1
pairing his second paper on the disease /
which had come TO bear his name, 4
DIS. Anderson and GOldberger were /
engaged in the study Of Mexican ty-
phus and became impressed with the /
apparently similar symptoms in the \
two diseases. They sought an Oppor-
tunity to study a case of BrilIs dis
ease first hand. which came in Sep
TENDER last year.
Blood was drawn from the arm vein /
Of the patient. defibrinated and used !
TO inOculate two rhesus monkeys, and {
the same operation was repeated on
two other monkeys the day following,
with the addition Of an equal amount
OF normal salt solution. The first
went through unscathed. The
second one contracted the disease, and
went through all its stages to a com
poor condition II the time of inOcu-
latiOn, refused to eat thereafter. and
In six days it became advisa BILE to I
it. The fourth one died of
perttOnitis. When the fever OF the
second monkey was at It's height
ibrinated, and used to inOculate two I
other monkeys Both took the fever,
but the one which had the worst at
tack was selected for the further
propagation Of the disease Since then
L has been carried through II mon
key generations by incubation Of
blood.
Studies II In Mexico City.
After establishing the fact that
Brilrs disease could be transmitted to
by blood incubation, Dr.
went to Mexico City, car
-ying with him number of monkeys,
some Of which had recovered from the
OF BrilPs disease. and others
which had never been inOculated. The
studies which followed showed that
the monkeys which had had the dis
Ease In New York were immune from
yphus incubation in Mexico This ex-
pertinent was tried repeatedly, and al
ways with the same result. Likewise
he operation was reversed, and an