The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1923-02-13
GERM OF FLU FOUND BY
RESEARCH SCIENTISTS
SCIENTISTS OF ROCKEFELLER
INSTITUTE SUCCEED AT
TER YEARS OF WORK.
DISCOVERY VERY IMPORTANT
So Small 1t Can Pass Through Pores
OF an Earthenware Filter. Has Kill
ed Hundreds of Thousands of Peo-
pie. Will Develop an Anti Toxine.

pie. Will Develop an Anti-Toxine.
DR.. Simon Flexner, of the Rookie
Teller Institute for Medical Research,
announced in Schenectady, n. Y, last
week that the germ of influenza has
been isolated by the institute and that
efforts were being made to develop a
vaccine or an antitoXin for the dis
ease In a dispatch from Schenectady
DR.. Flexner gives credit for the dis
covery to Drs. Frederick T. Gates and
Peter K. Olitsky, of the institute.
Discovery of Great Importance.
Isolation of the germ of this dis
ease which killed literally millions of
people throughout the world in 1918
and was probably the greatest single
cause OF death in this country in that
year, when upward of 100000 men
were in army camps throughout the
country, is of tremendous importance
to the medical profession. DR.. Simon
said
1--WE do know that Drs. Gates and
Olitsky have succeeded in transmit
ting influenza with nasal washings
taken in three separate epidemics. The
proof that they have found the germ
is fairly positive. 1t is called the pneu-
masintes.
"At certain stages the germ is so
small that it passes through the pores
of a porcelain filter. At other stages
it is so large that it can be seen un-
der the microscope.
Transmitted to Rabbits.
"Drs. Gates and Olitzky have trans
mitted the disease to rabbits. They
have succeeded in producing in them
what we know as typhoid-pneumo-
MIA.
1T has been proved that the dis
ease is transmitted through the res
piratory passages, and only in that
way.
"Of course the discovery is Of the
utmost importance to medical SCI
ence."
rs the step between the isolation
Of the germ and the development OF
an antitoxin or a vaccine long one?"
DIR. Simon was asked.
1T may be long and it may be
Short" he answered.
At the time of the epidemic in 1918
and the second in 1919, and long be-
fore either year, medical men engag-
ed in research work have tried to find
the germ of "the flu" By many it has
been regarded as identical with the
plaques which at intervals swept over
Europe during the middle ages, kill
ing hundreds of thousands of people.
All physicians have declared that it
showed marked differences from the
ordinary and less harmful grippe"
In many cases it attacked healthy or
ganisms and produced death within a
week
Pass Through Earthenware Filter.
DR.. Flexner is quoted in the dis
patch as saying:
"The new bacterium is so small that
it can pass through the pores of an
earthenware filter, and when magni-
fed 1000 times is just capable of be-
ing seen under the microscope. 1t is
found thus far only i'll cases of cpl
demic influenza in the early stages of
the disease. 1t has been given the
name of bacterium pneumosintes,
which means that it is the germ which
Injuries the lung tissue in such way
as to deprive it of the power of re-
sisting attacks of common bacteria OF
the nose and throat.
I'm health these common bacteria
are easily destroyed by the lung it's
sues. AS a result of injuries induced
by the newly found bacteria the lungs
become susceptible to the inflamma-
tons called bronchitis and pneumo-