Abstract
Thus far no cases of botulism due to Cl. botulinum Type C have been reported and nothing definite concerning the susceptibility of man to this toxin is known. On the other hand since the great susceptibility of monkeys to Cl. parabotulinum Type A toxin is now established through the studies of Dack and Wood 1 it appeared not unlikely that comparative tests on these animals with non-ovolytic and non-sarcolytic strains might permit of certain deductions concerning the liability of man to botulism poisoning by the ingestion of Type C and D toxins.
Such tests became imperative since Bengtson 2 considers the monkey very susceptible to the toxin of Cl. Botulinum Type C and the reports of Theiler and Robinson 3 contain no information concerning the effect of Type D toxin on apes. A series of monkeys was therefore injected or fed by stomach tube with varying doses of different toxins.
The tests confirm the early observations of van Ermengem4 and Römer and Stein5 that monkeys are very susceptible to Cl. botulinum Type B toxin (produced by a strain recently isolated from a ham in Germany) by feeding. In the animal poisoned by this type, toxin was demonstrated in the blood and throughout the entire intestinal tract but not in the brain. Although readily intoxicated by subcutaneous injections with Type C and toxin the Macacus rhesus resist very large doses of the same poison per os. The first visible symptoms in the animals injected subcutaneously appeared only 60 to 90 minutes before death. Since the number of the experiments here presented is small, one may merely conclude that the susceptibility of man to Type D and in all probability to Type C toxins is low.
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