Abstract
The high mortality of Eastern equine encephalomyelitis in both man and animals has prompted interest in therapy. Specific anti-sera may have value in the treatment of horses if administered early, but its use after the disease is well established is ineffectual. 1 In horses the disease may be suspected and treated specifically; however, in man the diagnosis must usually await the appearance of neurological signs at which stage the lesions are too far advanced for antiserum therapy. This shortcoming suggested the investigation of other therapeutic procedures employing the highly susceptible rat and mouse.
The beneficial effect of hypertonic solutions, such as 10-25% glucose, in edema of the CNS has long been recognized, particularly in edema of traumatic origin. In contrast, poliomyelitis of man and monkey has apparently responded favorably to injections of hypotonic solutions in the hands of Retan. 2 Therefore, the effects of hypertonic and hypotonic saline solutions were compared in rats with experimental EEE using isotonic saline as a control. Intra-abdominal injections of the solutions were begun 40 hours after intracranial inoculation of the rats, at which time about 10% of the animals showed well advanced signs of the disease. The remaining rats appeared normal. The fluids were administered in 4 cc quantities every 2 or 3 hours, totaling approximately 40 cc daily for a 150 g rat. This is equivalent to 12 liters for a 60 kg man. The saline injections were continued until 83% of the animals were dead. This treatment in no way altered the course of the infection (Table I).
Many workers have reported the use of sulfanilamide and related compounds on virus infections of man and animals. In man sulfanilamides seem to be of value in lymphopathia venereum, 3 and in animals success has followed the treatment of meningo-encephalitis associated with canine distemper, 4 with negative results in poliomyelitis, 5 , 6 , 7 rabbit myxoma, rabbit fibroma, herpetic encephalitis, chorio-meningitis and St. Louis encephalitis. 8
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