G. M. Dack

Staphylococcal enterotoxin. I. Purification

Abstract A procedure for purifying enterotoxin from the Staphylococcus strain S-6 has been outlined. Acid precipitation, adsorption on alumina, precipitation by ethanol, chromatography on IRC-50, and zone electrophoresis on starch were the methods used. The final product shows the presence of only one antigen when tested by the gel-diffusion technique of Oakley and only one peak in the ultracentrifuge. A preparation was obtained that causes emesis in monkeys at approximately 1 μg. nitrogen per dose.

A study of Bacterium necrophorum in chronic ulcerative colitis and of the effect of sulfanilamide in treatment

Bact. necrophorum was not found in cultures taken at proctoscopic examination from the normal colon of 99 patients. It was found in 7 of 28 cases in which there was disease of the colon other than chronic ulcerative colitis. Bact. necrophorum was isolated from 27 of 38 patients in various stages of chronic ulcer ative colitis. Ten of these 38 patients were treated in the acute stage of the disease with sulfanilamide. Sulfanilamide did not appear to hasten healing very markedly, although mild to moderately severe cases showed slight improvement temporarily. There is a tendency for exacerbation of symptoms on withdrawal of the drug. Although experimental Bact. necrophorum infections in rabbits may be cured with sulfanilamide, this bacterium does not disappear from the diseased colon of patients taking this drug. After healing occurs, Bact. necrophorum is usually absent. A discussion is given in the paper concerning the possible significance of Bact. necrophorum in chronic ulcerative colitis.

An epidemic of acute digestive upsets of unknown etiology

An epidemic of acute gastro-intestinal upsets is described which involved 48 persons residing in four dormitories. This outbreak does not appear to have been spread through the medium of food or water. Laboratory studies did not reveal the causative agent responsible for the illnesses. The epidemiological features suggest contact or droplet infection, although attempts to reproduce the disease in monkeys (Macaca mullata) with nasopharyngeal washings and blood from patients were unsuccessful.

Staphylococcal enterotoxin: increased vomiting incidence in monkeys following subemetic doses of dihydroergotamine.

Summary Subcutaneous injection of subemetic dose of dihydroergotamine methane-sulfonate increases the number of Macaca mulatta which vomit following oral administration of staphylococcal enterotoxin. The possibility that increased incidence of vomiting might be due to summation effects of 2 similar pharmacological compounds has been considered, but no adrenolytic effect of enterotoxin corresponding to that of DHE-45 has been found. The other drugs tested have not significantly affected the incidence of emesis in monkeys following feeding of enterotoxin.

Increased Serum Glutamic-Oxalacetic Transaminase of Monkeys following Oral Administration of Staphylococcal Enterotoxin.

Summary Serum glutamic-oxalacetic acid transaminase activity of monkeys after staphylococcal enterotoxin feeding has been studied. There is an elevation to about 2 to 3 times the prefeeding titer within 6-8 hrs after feeding of the toxin. The observations are discussed on the basis that increased serum transaminase activity is due to release of the enzyme into the circulation by damaged cells.

Effect of Oxygen on Bacterium necrophorum in the Isolated Colon Segment of a Dog

Summary Bacterium necrophorum introduced in large numbers into the isolated colon of a dog were recovered in appreciable numbers after a period of 12 hours. When oxygen was admitted into the bowel containing the culture for a period of 90 minutes no Bact. necrophorum organisms were recovered at the end of that time. Nitrogen similarly injected into the bowel was without effect.

Fibrinolytic Activity of Hemolytic Streptococci from Scarlet Fever

Conclusion In general, strains of hemolytic streptococci from complicated cases of scarlet fever are more actively fibrinolytic than strains from uncomplicated cases.

Effect of introducing oxygen into the isolated colon of a patient with chronic ulcerative colitis

Oxygen gas was repeatedly insufflated into the isolated colon of a patient with severe chronic ulcerative colitis. The treatment was given for periods varying from 2 to 12 hours over a time interval of 112 days. During this time 43 bacteriological examinations were made of the colon and its discharges. The isolated diseased colon failed to heal andBacterium necrophorum continued present and was found in abundance, especially during periods when the diseased process appeared aggravated.

Experimental "Food-Poisoning " in Monkeys with Living Paratyphoid Bacilli.

Previous experiments in this laboratory have shown: (1) that the symptoms of food-poisoning were not reproduced when enormous numbers of heat-killed paratyphoid bacilli were fed to monkeys and other animals; 1 (2) that similarly, no symptoms were produced when large amounts of heat-killed paratyphoid cultures were swallowed by human volunteers. 2 These results indicated that the thermostabile substance (or substances) long known to be toxic to animals on intraperitoneal inoculation, is not the substance (or substances) responsible for the gastro-intestinal outbreaks with which paratyphoid bacilli are commonly associated. Experiments have accordingly been undertaken using massive doses of living paratyphoid bacilli taken from agar cultures grown in Kolle flasks. These have been carried out with rhesus monkeys, and have yielded positive results. Monkeys of about 31/2 to 41/2 kilos, fed with from 95 to 816 billions of viable organisms, have shown symptoms of illness, such as sluggishness, loss of appetite and marked watery diarrhea. There was in all instances some loss of weight, but as a rule this was quickly regained. The diarrhea usually lasts 1 or 2 days, but in one instance persisted over 4 days. In no case did death occur, and the organisms fed were in no instance isolated from the blood, although daily attempts at blood cultures were made. One strain used (411) was of the Aertrycke type and was isolated in 1923 in a food-poisoning outbreak in New York City. 3 Large doses of heat-killed cultures of this organism had been given in previous experiments without causing any symptoms in man, monkeys or other animals. 1 , 2 In the present series a saline suspension of organisms was prepared from several Kolle fiasks, and was divided into 2 equal portions, one portion consisting of living organisms, the other portion being boiled for 20 minutes before being fed. Symptoms of “food-poisoning” appeared in animals fed with living cells, not in the others. Similar positive results were obtained with an Enteritidis strain, but monkeys fed with a living Proteus strain and with living B. coli strains showed no signs of illness.