SPIRILLUM CHOLERA ASIATICS 127 



fever. As the organisms leave the body only with the 

 feces, measures should be taken to disinfect them, and 

 anything likely to be soiled with them. The feces 

 should be received into 5 per cent, carbolic acid 

 solution. The buttocks and anus should be wiped 

 with 1 to 1000 bichloride solution. Clothes or bedding, 

 glasses, utensils, and other objects should be soaked 

 in these solutions. Boiling when possible is advisable. 

 A disinfecting hand lotion should be constantly used 

 by the attendants. It is necessary to continue disin- 

 fection of stools for varying periods after an attack, 

 since bacteria lurk in the depths of the intestinal 

 mucosa, and are excreted long after the acute symp- 

 toms have disappeared. 



Cholera is diagnosticated bacteriologically by culti- 

 vation of the stools. The organisms are present in 

 almost pure culture, and can be made to grow quite 

 easily. There are several other spirilla of similar form 

 and manner of growth, and sometimes delicate bio- 

 logical tests (see below) are necessary. Agglutination 

 tests may be used in this disease, as some clumping 

 power is acquired by the blood during an attack. 

 Another antibody is formed which has the power of 

 dissolving the cholera spirilla. This is a bacteriolysin. 

 Animals injected with the cholera organisms also 

 acquire this power. If a guinea-pig be injected with 

 spirilla up to a point where it will resist large numbers, 

 its blood serum will dissolve the living organisms 

 either in the test-tube or, what is better, within the 

 abdominal cavity of another guinea-pig. In the latter 

 case the antiserum from the prepared guinea-pig and 

 living rods are injected together. The rods are devital- 



