Vol. 60, 1909 - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

THE CHARLOTTE MEDICAL JOCRNA].
which pellagra naturally enters the body, nor has it been determined whether or not
Guinea-pigs which were fed on the ordi- there is some other source of infection than
nary food, with the exception of corn, were by way of the mouth. There are still those
able to take enormous doses of the germ by who hold that pellagra occurs commonly
the mouth without any ill results. On the in sections where corn is never eaten, and
other hand, when the germ was given with in my own experience I have seen patients
corn meal, although this meal was most who gave a history of eating not near as
carefully selected as to its purity and free- much corn as is eaten in my own family,
dom from contamination, the animal read- It is hard to conceive that in a section
ily succumbed to typical pellagra. Whether where corn is almost invariably the chief
or not this organism requires a medium con- article of diet, and where the source of the
taining corn meal for its growth and devel- corn is the same for the rich and .the poor,
opment is a question. There still remains that the disease does not abound more
some doubt whether any carbohydrate food generally.
would not furnish the same favorable me- Experimentally, there can be no doubtf
dium, and Tizzoni has suggested that there that the bacillus of pellagra forms an anti-* i
may be an explanation, in that, in the toxin and that this antitoxin is curative. I
cooking of corn meal, as it is usually done Tizzoni was able, by inoculating guinea .
by the Italian peasantry, in the preparation pigs that had pellagra, with blood from a \
of pollenta, the balling of the meal protects healed pellagrin, to cure every case. Asa i
the organism contained in its center from the control, he found that guinea pigs experihigh
degrees of heat to which the surfaces mentally inoculated with the pellagra baof
these balls are exposed. Wheat flour, cillus at the same time with the above men- ;
cooked in the same manner, forms a homo- tioned, died in every instance, unless given
genous suspension without lumps, thereby a dose of the blood of a healed pellagrin. |
allowing the heat to reach every part. One H. P. Cole, of Mobile, Alabama, had two 1
of the most significant discoveries of Tiz- patients in extremis with acute pellagra,
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zoni was the fact that this organism may He had, also, under his care, a healed pel- I
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be heated to ')!• degrees C. for one hour, lagrin. By using the method of Crile,
and still not be destroyed. It is easy to see transfusing the blood from the healed pel-
hovv' a germ contained in the center of a lagrin to the other patient, he had the sat- \
pollenta ball could withstand the ordinary isfaction of seeing the dying patient not. j
cooking process. only recover temporarily, but of securing a
Occasionally, a bad sample of corn is permanent cure, without recurrence. The j
found to contain the same organism which second patient died before he finished the i
Tizzoni isolated from the blood, feces, operation ou the first. This experiment
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cerebrospinal fluid, and organs of pel- seems to prove conclusively that there can 1
lagrins. A small amount of corn is beaten be no doubt that pellagra is a disease curable I
up in a sterile mortar and a culture tube of with an antitoxin
bouillon is inoculated with one-fourth its It was Bellamy, of Wilmington, and i
bulk of this crushed corn. The tube is then later. Powers, of Clemson College,
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placed in the incubator, at 37 degrees C. S. C, who first suggested the probfor
24 hours. At the end of that time, it is ability that epizootic meningitis of i
placed at a temperature of ')0 degrees C, horses, or "blind staggers," is nothing more :;
and kept there for one hour. This heating nor less than pellagra. While this point
kills practically all of the non-spore bearers, has not been proven, it is very necouroging ,!
but the bacillus of pellagra remains un- to think'that the horse is susceptible to
harmed, and from this tube, other tubes pellagra, because we must have an animal i
may be inoculated with the specific germ for the manufacture of an antitoxin that is i
in pure culture. This is a most important large enough to be bled large quantities of ;
point, because it offers an easy way for blood at one time, in order to make the i
laboratory workers to rapidly examine any manufacture of any antitoxin an econom- ;:
suspicious sample of corn in a relatively ic possibility. When we remember that \
short time. The method is so simple that tlus organism grows readily in the labora- j
it may be done by anyone who has had any tory on all the ordinary culture media, that >.
laboratory training. The same experi- it is easily isolated by the heat method 'i
raents were performed with this organism above described, and that an antitoxin i
isolated from corn as was done with the would be effective, regardless of the rela- '\
organism isolated from the pellagrin, and tionship of any particular food, it seems a ;i
the results showed that in both instances simple matter for the manufacturers to soon !|
the germ was identical. supply us with a curative serum. il
Experiments have not yet been made to While a typical case of pella.gra is as '^
determine whether or not this organism is easy to diagnose as measles, yet there are i;
found in other food stuffs, besides in corn, many cases varying from the normal that ;i:
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