PRELIMINARY REPORT ON VARIOUS METHODS OF SERUM 

 APPLICATION IN BACILLARY DYSENTERY x 



By Pedro T. Lantin 



(From the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Surgery, 

 University of the Philippines, and the Philippine General Hospital, Manila) 



TWO TEXT FIGURES 



Since the announcement to the world of the specific therapy 

 of bacillary dysentery introduced by Shiga in 1898, this form 

 of treatment has fallen into a state of apparent lethargy in the 

 hands of the medical profession probably because of the failure 

 of other observers to secure confirmatory results. It is only 

 during recent years that the "renaissance," so to speak, of the 

 biological applications of this treatment has attracted many 

 followers. Leading observers who have contributed much to 

 the knowledge of this subject are Shiga, Kruse, Rosenthal, 

 Kraus and Doerr, Rosculet, Vaillard and Dopter, Irimescu, 

 Karlinski and Ludke.(2) 



The specific treatment is based on purely biological principles. 

 By immunizing animals, Shiga, the pioneer in this field, could 

 produce sera with which he was able to decrease the mortality 

 rate of endemic dysentery in Japan from 35 to 9 per cent. (4) 

 During an epidemic in 1905 in Rumania Rosculet used prophy- 

 lactic injection of serum in 18 persons, while 18 other persons 

 exposed under the same conditions were used as controls. While 

 none of the exposed persons who received serum showed any 

 symptoms of the disease, the controls developed bacillary dysen- 

 tery. Bahr has claimed that polyvalent sera are both antitoxic 

 and bactericidal. (l) These facts themselves speak highly for 

 the specific treatment of the disease and its bright future in 

 connection with the treatment of the disease. 



Other investigators, however, have pronounced the serum 

 treatment of bacillary dysentery a failure. It is probable that 

 (a) the serum at their disposal was defective, (b) the treatment 

 was begun too late, or (c) the diagnosis had not been confirmed 

 bacteriologically and the etiology of the disease was not estab- 

 lished. Under such circumstances, what beneficial effects could 



1 Read before the Manila Medical Society, December 3, 1917. Received 

 for publication January 17, 1918. The serum used in this work was sup- 

 plied by the Bureau of Science. 



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