EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3058, 20 April 1917, Page 7

EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE

NEW. MEDICAL DISCOVERY. Since the outbreak, of war physicians, : both in France and-in, the. Bast,, have ; been called upon to deal with a: condition .known as■ epidemic jaundice, -and characterised by a yellow'colour of. the skin, some fever, and. general disturbance. The outbreak.in France was recognised; very recently, as being similar,to an outbreak which took plac9 in: Tokio in 191*- This Japanese, epidemic was promptly met by scientific- m'easures,\ which: included' a bacteriological research into;the.-nature. of the condition.. The,results of the research were.made known last April'. The bacteriologists found a new ism, a spirochaete, not unlike the spirochaete of syphilis in appearance, though entirely different in character. This they called the Spiroohaeta icterohaemorrhagiac. In view of this work efforts were made to find out whether, the Japanese disease and the jaundice -occurring in France were the dame condition. At a Tecent meeting of the French" Academy of Medicine, Doctors L. Mnrtm and A. Pettit produced experimental evidence to show-that' the spirochnetes are present .in French .'soldiers. : .They found three cases of the disease, among over. 50 patients with jaundice; the inoculation of guinea-pigs .with blood ''.from ihese. three patients killed the anim-jls with hemorThagjf- jaundice in a few days. It is hoped that it may be possible to prepare a specific antf-serum.' Salvarsan has .-' been tried -without success;