PAPERS ON MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH 457 



THE APPLICATION OF BACTEPIOPHAGE TO 

 PUBLIC HEALTH 



Thomas G. Hull, Cihef, Dr'isiox of Laboratories, 



Illinois Department of Public He-axth, 



Springfield 



Some years ago Haukiii obsei*ved that the water of the 

 Ganges and Jumna Elvers in India have marked bacter- 

 icidal action for bacteria in general and for cholera vi- 

 brio in particular. The water of Jumna river contains, 

 at the city of Agra, more than 1000 bacteria per cc. Five 

 kilometers below this it contains only 90 to 100 bacteria 

 per cc. AVhen this water is passed through a Berkefeld 

 filter it shows a marked bactericidal action for the 

 cholera organisms, in four hours destroying all organ- 

 isms when a little of the water is placed in a broth cul- 

 ture of cholera vibrio. When this water is boiled it loses 

 its bactericidal action and cholera vibrio grow well, as 

 they also do in water taken from wells in the vicinity of 

 the rivers. Hankin had no adequate explanation of the 

 peculiar phenomenon. 



In 1916, Twort was attempting to isolate filterable 

 viruses from nature which might be grown on ordinary 

 culture media. In this he was unsuccessful. In his work 

 on calf vacinnia (smallpox vaccine) he noted that cultures 

 of micrococci growing from the glycerinated vaccine be- 

 came glassy and transparent and could not be subcul- 

 tured. By transferring a little of the glassy material to 

 new tubes of micrococci, these also became dissolved. 

 Action was strongest with young cultures and could not 

 be demonstrated in very old cultures. The lytic princi- 

 ple passes through the finest clay filters, but would not 

 grow of itself on any culture media. Twort was not cer- 

 tain whether the lytic action was due to a minute para- 

 sitic organism, an amoeba or an anzyme secreted by the 

 micrococcus. 



The investigator who has taken up the work of these 

 two pioneers and made a most careful study of it is 

 d'Herelle. It is his theoiy that there is one parasite for 

 all bacteria which adapts itself to the various kinds of 



