Evening star., 1938-09-15

The dreaded spinal meningitis ex-
lists in two forms. against one of which
no potent serum can regularly be OBJ
tained. Dr. John H.. Mcleod of the
staff of Childrens Hospital told men,
bers of the Georgetown University
School of Medicines postgraduate
clinic today
Only lucky accident. he revealed.
may have saved the lives OF two of
the five cases treated at the hospital
last winter
All the cases admitted were treat
ed with meningitis antitoxin obtained
from commercial drug firms and ad-
vertised as potent against all four
types of meningococcus." together with
small doses of sulphanilamide. Two
made rapid and complete recoveries.
Two others seemed to get no benefit
from the treatment.
Serum Never Duplicated.
Samples of the responsible organ
ism were obtained from the spinal
fluid and referred to Dr. Sarah Bran
ham of the United States Public
Health Service, the countrys fore
most authority on meningococcus
types. one of whose jobs is to pass on
the potency of all commercial anti
toxin preparations before they can
be sold to physicians. She diagnosed
the specimens as belonging to type 2
and furnished DR.. Mcleod with the
only really potent anti-serum against
this organism which ever had been
referred to her. 1t was the product
OF an obscure drug firm and apparent
ly had been made purely by accident.
The firm has never been able to du-
plicate, although it has used precisely
the same methods.
With this lucky sample the two
children recovered rapidly. A third
died before the organism could be
typed, a process which requires two
or three days.
For some reason, DR.. Mcleod said
the type bug" does not lend itself
to the production of an anti-serum
when it is passed through the blood
of horses, the customary method Of
making such remedy. There is ap-
parent some fine point involved. he
pointed out. which now constitutes the
great hurdle to the conquest of menin-
gifts.
Experiments Planned.
DR.. Branham herself, he revealed,
plans to conduct intensive expert
ments at the new Public Health Serv-
ice Animal Experiment Station at Be-
thesda in an effort to discover the
lucky accident, using her own horses
and rigidly controlling such things
as their diet and living conditions
Actually, DR.. Mcleod said, there
are four types Of the meningococcus.
One and three are grouped together
and are responsible for approximate
ly 80 per cent of the cases met with
in an epidemic of the disease. Against
these either the regular serum, anti
toxin or sulphonilamide is potent. The
serum put out by the regular drug
houses is thoroughly satisfactory.
Types two and four also are grouped
together. They are probably response
BILE for large number of sporadic
cases-three out of five in Washington
last winter. In the past they have gone
unsupported and probably have been
responsible for many of the failures
reported with the regular treatments
in the past, DR.. Mcleod said. Against
them sulphonilamide seems to have
no value whatsoever, per sc. although
it may enhance the action of potent
type two serum, if such can be OBJ
tanned.
Potency Nearly Zero.
All the commercial preparations, he
said, claim to contain antibodies for
all four types, but Public Health Serv-
ice tests show that their potency
against two and four is nearly zero.
All meningitis cases briught to Chill
dren's Hospital, he said, now are typed
as a matter of routine but this is easy
because of the nearness of DR.. Bran
hams laboratory. For the country
at large immediate tipping may be
very difficult, since an elaborate set-up
Is required.
DR.. Mcleod reported on his study
Of 80 ca1es treated ut Children's Hos
pital during the last four years, III