Evening star., 1925-01-05
BACTERIA EATERS
TRIED ON HUMANS
Results Reported to Johns
Hopkins, Which Also Is
Experimenting.
special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch TO The Star.
BALTIMORE, January Sin the
laboratory of DR.. Charles E. Simon
at Johns Hopkins School of Public
Health and Hygiene there are test
tubes full of virus which, it is as
serted, will destroy the germs of ty-
phoid, paratyphoid, dysentery. chol-
era, bubonic plague and other dis
eases.
''Backte-iephages" and bacteria eat
ers' are he names applied to some OF
the virea but what the diners on
bacteria Avk like the scientist does
not know He never has seen them.
They are Goo small to be caught by
the most elaborate microscopes
known and too small to be strained
out by tiny porous filters.
All the scientist knows about them
is furnished by the way they behave
when injected into plants and other
living things and by the fact that
jf he starts with no more than one
nillionth of a cubic centimeter of
the bacteriophage and feeds them
ordinary germs he can obtain an
untold quantity.
Way They Work Unknown.
Announcement from the University
of Minnesota a week ago of the work
of DR.. Robert c. Green with the dis
case destroying supermicrobe led to
an inquiry at Johns Hopkins and the
admission by DIR. Simon that he has
been working along similar lines.
Exactly how the bacteriophages
work on the germs is not known but
according to DR.. Simon. they are able
TO infect the germs themselves with
destructive diseases and to set up
infections which will last through
generation after generation of germs
DIR. Simon has called attention to
the work of the scientist Dr. DIE
relle, connected with the Pasteur In
stitute, in Paris, the University of
Leyden and research laboratories of
Alexandria. Egypt, where expert
ments with the bacteriophages have
produced significant effects.
Tested on Humans.
For instance. DR.. D'Herelle found
that by inoculating chickens with the
bacteria deyourers he could cure
diarrhea and immunize the fowls
against the disease. Working on a
small scale, DR. Simon said, the same
scientist applied his virus to human
beings and obtained excellent results
in cases of dysentery. From Argen-
tina, DR.. Simon declared, he had re-
ceived similar news of success in
using the bacteriophages on humans.
An economic value of the bacterio-
phages or virus-for the bacterio-
phages, so far as known, are certain
types of the virus-Dr. Simon de-
scribed as being found in the study
OF the wilt disease among plants in
New England. The disease has a bio
logical connection with the gypsy
moths.
Effect on CaterpiIIars.
In an epidemic of the wilt many
moths may. be found dead and clut-
tered over the trunks of trees. If the
moths are ground up and the juices
extracted from their bodies are
strained and filtered, these juices,
when injected into healthy caterpil-
lars of gypsy moths, set up a disease
which kills them. The action, ac-
cording to DR.. Simon, is one caused
by the virus, which here saves many
more millions of dollars than could
be saIvaged by sprays and insect
powders.
The source of the virus in nature,
DR.. Simon said, is unknown. To
trace the great reservoirs of its
storage and manufacture is the chief
problem in this sphere of scientific
research. With this search, DR.. ST.
mon thinks, is linked the answer to
the great question why epidemics
subside after having run their space
of time, and why certain diseases,
such as measles, are prevalent at ap-
parently stated periods