SPECIFIC THERAPY WITH BACTERIOPHAGE SUSPENSIONS 



575 



phage. I concluded that 5 cases were obviously inadequate to permit 

 me to state that phagotherapy represented a specific treatment for this 

 infection, but that what had been observed warranted me in thinking that 

 it might be so. Four years have elapsed since then; the treatment of 

 some tens of thousands of cases has shown that my beliefs were well- 

 founded. 



These four cases of plague which I have just had an opportunity to 

 treat justify me, I believe, in repeating what I said in the case of bacil- 

 lary dysentery, namely, that bacteriophage treatment may be a specific 

 therapy for the disease. 



Chart 25. A. Stell Bubonic Plague 



Treatment: Two injections of Pestis-bacteriophage 



Since B. pestis, like B. dysenteriae, is a very homogenous species as 

 regards bacteriophagy, it will be possible to use, as I did in the four 

 cases reported above, a "stock-bacteriophage," without the necessity 

 of preliminary laboratory tests. On the basis of the results reported 

 above, admittedly few, I would recommend that injections be made 

 directly into the bubo; that a dose of 2 cc. be given; and that the treat- 

 ment he given as promptly as possible. Inasmuch as the injection of 

 bacteriophage virulent for B. pestis is absolutely harmless even if it is 

 later discovered that the diagnosis was wrong, it is unnecessary to await 

 a report from the laboratory. When a case of suspected plague is en- 

 countered the proper procedure is first to remove some material from 

 the gland for later examination (wherever this is possible) and then 



