GERM ISOLATED

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 48, 21 November 1918, Page 6

GERM ISOLATED

AUCKLAND DOCTOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Iho isolation of tho bacillus which is says the Auckland "Slav") been successfully earned out by Dr. dq Clivo Lowe, 0 Auck and who states that the germ «; the baci lus influen Z a--a,nd it give. ™° n to t 1 '" 8 lnfl,lema - Ur - I">we has dso piepared vaccine from cultures of tho t'erm and in the presence cf a ■'Star'' reporter-he treated himself to an injection of the vaccine i.cpresenti-ig 20.000.000 bacilli including a proportion of thVo adventitious germs responsible for the death ot so many people in the last two or three weeks.

At the time of treating 1 imself with the vaccine, the doctor was snfl'erintoom an attack ol iufiVienza, his temperature being 99.2. He hopes that as a result ot the injection ths temperature and other symptoms of the illness will dis appear, and to this end will make observations if he considers them necessary. Should the vaccine prove Successful he is prepared to supply as : ,uicli as h necessary, within tho limits-of liis laboratory, for use by medical men free of charge. New Form of Disease. Since the inception of the epidemic Dr. Lowe has been carrying on his investigations with the idea of eliminating tho cause of the complaint. J(c savs (hat his experiments prove definitely that the illness is due to the presence of highly virulent variety of the bacillus influenza quite distinct from the form of influenza that previously existed. "It is cleanly demonstrable," the doctor said, "that before, tho advent of this scourge it was an extremely difficult thing to grow the bacillus influenza. Since the coming of the epidemic growths have been obtained which reach the height if their.virulence in eighteen -hours, This, to my mind, definitely proves that it is a new form of tho bacillus influenza. A,s is well known, influenza exists throughout the whole world more or less constantly, and when it affects the human organism three or four days' rest in bed, with care, warmth, and appropriate remedies, usually sets things right. In the present stage bacteriological findings lave shown the bacillus to be of an extremely virulent nature. It can be cultivated from blood agar agar at a temper iturc of ,'17.1 degrees centigrade. lis powers of resistance, cultivated artificially, are very poor, and its maximum growth lakes place in eighteen hours. II; appears as small dew-like colonies, which do not coalesce, and which rapidly die down, be-

ing over-ridden by the other adventitious germs present. It stains with great difficulty, is non-motile, and (he presence of its spores have not been demonstrated by mo so far.

Introduced from Europe. ■ "J am of the opinion that the germ has 'been brought lo our shores from Europe," the doctor continued, "and that entry of the new strain of influenza, combined with what already existed in the Dominion, has increased its dangerous potency by 100 per cent. H causes u high rise of temperature, n burning up of the tissues generally, and a lowering of the bodily .vitality, leaving open the various avenues for the entrance of the accompanying pathogenic organisms which are the cause of death." Trie "Black" Plague Myth. The actual cause of death, the doctor stated, was certain of the nlvenlitious germs, which included the varieties pnenmoeoccus, staphylococcus mixed, pneuino bacilli, and microccoas catarrhalis. The erroneous idea that many have that the unfortunate people who have died had developed "black" plague was due lo tho fact that the acute double pneumonia which supervenes so rapidly with an acute attack of influenza causes a blocking of all the delicate air cells in the luiij' tissues, the .Mood being thereby deprived of its proper aeration. This resulted in the fact of the patient becoming blue and cyanosed, due to the presence of impure or veinous Wood. The reporter was shown the microscopic slide, blaring tho isolated influenza gcirms. under a high-power microscope. This slide is being retained by Dr. Lowe for reference.