The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-11-21

Anthrax, believed to have been origi-
nally a South American malady among
cattle, occurs not infrequently in the
southern states of the United States.
Until recently it was believed incurable
and victims were killed and buried In
Quicklime as quickly as possible. Re-
Gently, however, better and better results
have been obtained from the anthrax
serum, which acts both as a prophylactic
and a cure. The anthrax bacilli is the
most persistent and resistant of all
bacilli. The germs have been known to
survive in full virulence for from twenty
to twenty-five years. Anthrax is trans
mitted to animals by an insect.
Negroes of the south are often infected
by the disease, but it is very rare among
white persons OF the north. The CO.
incidence of several cases occurring
simultaneously near New York brought
down on this disease the full light OF
publicity.
Anthrax may be acquired by humans
externally by the contact of germ-laden
spores with scratched or infectable flesh,
or by the swallowing of the spores.
Usually human being gets 1t during the
process of killing and skinning diseased
animals, or in the sorting and handling
of wools hide or hair imported from
territory in which the malady is prev
alent.
In effect the ravages of anthrax on
human beings are not unlike thpse of the
South African sleeping sickness. The
patient is afflicted with lassitude, fever
and localized pain. Usually the neck be-
gins to swell. Hitherto the disease has
been considered absolutely fatal to human
beings. Victims have never survived
more than five days.
euccaSS axDariancod wit
DR.. Eichhorn's serum, however, has
robbed the disease of its greatest terror.
certain death. Forty-fve cubic cent?
meters are injected first into the arm,
chest and abdomen of the patient.
Twenty-four hours later another twenty
five centimeters are injected. Anthrax
poison spreads through the system
rapidly and kills by affecting the heart
and causing the throat to construct
Just before Eichhorn's serum was tried
at Bellevue hospital, DR.. Eichhorn had
proved the efficacy of his serum on
cattle. Out of 500 cattle, sheep, horses
and swine on which the serum was tried,
4S2 we're saved. In this connection, a
letter sent to The Journal of the Amer
lean Medical Association by DR.. Eichhorn
explains his connection with the serum.
The letter says in part:
81 have undertaken the experimental
with view of establishing a more salts
factory method of immunization than
those which are now employed in this
country. The simultaneous method
consisting of an injection of a potent
anthrax serum and carefully standard
ICED spore vaccine-proved very promis-
ing and to my mind superior to the
Pasteur method.
During the progress of the work we
had occasion to treat a considerable num-
Der of affected animals with our serum,
and obtained remarkable recoveries in a
very high percentage of cases, including
some OF the most severe types.
at is needless for me to state that
anthrax serum has been prepared in
Europe by many institutions, and that
this phase of immuniZation has been prac-
ticed for several years. We have how
ever, succeeded in concentrating the
serum by a method of precipitation and
are now endeavoring to prepare the
specific proteins of the immune serum in
a dry form to insure its keeping qualities
and to prevent contamination. Further
more, the vaccine which is being used in
connection with the serum is an
accurately standardized spore vaccine, by