THE BACTERIOLYSANT THERAPY OF BACILLARY DYSENTERY IN CHILDREN

It has been demonstrated by d'Herelle and others¹that if a small portion of feces from a dysenteric convalescent or even from a normal person is inoculated in a flask of bouillon, and this mixed culture is passed through a Berkfeld filter, the resulting sterile filtrate, when added to young cultures of dysentery and other bacilli, will kill and dissolve the organisms. If a portion of this dissolved culture is, in turn, added to another young dysentery culture, the organisms will again be killed and dissolved. This phenomenon can in this way be reproduced for innumerable successive generations. The names bacteriophage, bacteriolysant and lytic agent have been given to these filtrates. When they are injected intravenously and subcutaneously into rabbits and other animals, no harmful effects are produced. These animals develop antibodies for the organisms against which the filtrates are active. It was obvious to many observers that these