548 APPLICATION OF METHODS OF BACTERIOLOGY 



of 87 cases with dysentery immune serum. Decided im- 

 provement was noted in only 12 of the patients. These 

 were principally hospital cases, and hence rather grave 

 forms of the disease. Another factor which probably 

 operated against the favorable influence of the serum is the 

 fact that the serum treatment was generally preceded by 

 a careful bacteriological 'analysis of the stools in order to 

 establish a positive diagnosis, requiring two or three days 

 so that the serum treatment was instituted late in the course 

 of the disease. 



Holt points out that the conditions necessary to obtain 

 success in the serum treatment of cases of dysentery are: 

 First, the early use of the serum, before serious lesions have 

 developed or before the patient's general condition has been 

 too profoundly impaired; second, the serum must be 

 administered in repeated doses, one or two doses a day, and 

 continued for several days in severe cases. 



