538 Yellow Fever 



of the specific nature of the Bacillus icteroides, but it places the etio- 

 logic and pathologic conception of yellow fever on an altogether new 

 basis." 



The discovery of Bacillus icteroides, and especially of its toxin, 

 entirely changes our view of the pathology of the disease. Instead 

 of being a disease of the gastro-intestinal tract, as one would conclude 

 from the symptoms, "all the symptomatic phenomena, all the func- 

 tional alterations, all the anatomic lesions of yellow fever, are only 

 the consequence of an eminently steatogenous, emetic, and hemolytic 

 action of the toxic substances manufactured by Bacillus icteroides." 



Wasdin and Geddings* confirmed in all points the work of 

 Sanarelli, and believed Bacillus icteroides to be the specific 

 cause of yellow fever. Archinard, Woodson, and Archi- 

 nardf found that the blood of yellow fever cases caused 

 agglutination with Bacillus icteroides and no other organism. 



Agramonte } refused to accept Bacillus icteroides as the 

 cause of yellow fever, as he found it in only 7 out of 23 

 cases of yellow fever studied, and found it in other than 

 yellow fever cadavers. 



Readers interested in the study of yellow fever and the 

 relationship of Bacillus icteroides to the disease should not 

 fail to read the critical papers upon the subject by Novy . 



In a lengthy and interesting review and comparison of 

 Sanarelli's and his own work, Sternberg || concludes that 

 Bacillus icteroides of Sanarelli is identical with Bacillus x, 

 which he had discovered in yellow fever cadavers as early as 

 1888. 



In a later paper** Sanarelli discusses the validity of Stern- 

 berg's claim to priority of discovery, and points out a suffi- 

 cient number of differences in the original descriptions of 

 the organisms to establish conclusively the individuality of 

 Bacillus icteroides. 



Bacillus of Havelburg. About the same time that Sana- 

 relli published his work, Havelburg ff announced the dis- 

 covery of an entirely different bacillus, that he supposed to 

 be specific for the disease. Without entering into a detailed 

 description of Havelburg's bacillus, which seems to be far 



* " Report of the Commission of Medical Officers Detailed by Author- 

 ity of the President to Investigate the Cause of Yellow Fever," Wash- 

 ington, D. C., 1899. 



f'New York Med. Jour.," Jan. 28, 1899. 



J " Medical News," Feb. 10, 1900, vol. LXXVI, No. 6. 



"Medical News," 1898. 



||"Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk..." Sept. 6, 1897, Bd. xxn, 

 Nos. 6 and 7. 



**Ibid., Bd. xxii, Nos. 22 and 23, p. 668. 

 tf'Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur," 1897. 



