BACTERIA AND DISEASE.

Waikato Argus, Volume II, Issue 110, 23 March 1897, Page 4

BACTERIA AND DISEASE.

Pjotfessok E. Lvsies Thompson, in the course of a lecture at Gresham College, remarked that diphtheria gave a very good illustration of the course of a disease due to the presence of bacteria, The spec : fio organism of diphtheria produced an effect allied to fermentation and led to the production of a. poison in the system. It was not unlike the bacillus of typhoid, and it developed with great rapidity. So virulent was the poison that its efTecc resembled that of a .snake bite. People who had large tonsils or thickness of the throat were more liable to the disease than others. Referring to the history of diptheria he said there was evidence that it had existed for a long time. Indeed, it was noticed by the ancients, and throughout the Middle Ages several serious epidemics of diphtheria occurred in Europe and extended to England. Coming to more recent times he mentioned that in 1554 and 1850 an epidemic reached England from France which went by the name of " Boulogne throat." After a time it was noticed that in cases of this kind a white membrane was thrown out from the throat, and then, for the first, time, it began to be realised that the epidemic was the same as that which had been described by the classics. From that time diphtheria had remained with us. While other diseases of a similar kind had diminished in consequence of improved sanitation this had become more and more frequent and destructive. The number of fatal cases in London in one week was 57. The contagiousne;s of diphtheria was not bunted to the ncu'.e stage, but extended to the period of convalescence. Children between the ages of two and 15 were most liable to it, and more particularly girls, probably because they spent more time indoors thun boys. By the adoption of the antitoxin treatment it was found that an amelioration of the system usually showed itself in 12 hours, while sometimes the acute stage was passed in 24 hoars. Under this treatment the mortality had been reduced from the average rate of 41 per cent, to 15 per cent. At the conclusion of the lecture Dr, Thompson replied to a number of questions that had been sent in beariug on the subject of the course. *