Aetiology of Post-arsphenamine Jaundice

The Discovery Of Viral Hepatitis: A Military Perspective

“…The most important observation was that neither seemed to confer immunity to the other. In other words, the evidence suggested that the causative agent in post-arsphenamine jaundice was probably identical to that of homologous serum jaundice, but was distinct from that of infective hepatitis (7). The identification of two distinct forms of viral hepatitis was a significant development.…”

“…Despite there being no change in the treatment protocols, the War Office began to notice an increase in the incidence of jaundice associated with anti-syphilitic treatment such that by mid-1943, rates of almost 1 in 2 treated cases were being reported (7).…”

“…It was hypothesised that post-arsphenamine jaundice was caused by inoculation of infected material from an imperfectly sterilised syringe. MacCallum suggested that if patients were given a syringe at the beginning of their treatment, and that only this syringe was used throughout their treatment, then transmission of the disease should be prevented (7). A small study seemed to prove this theory, with only one soldier developing jaundice during treatment.…”

Nobel Prize for the Discovery of Hepatitis B and C: A Brief History in Time

“… 9 In 1944 Beattie and Marshal proposed the use of individual syringe for every syphilis patient, as to their observation the cause of jaundice in them was not the drug but the syringes contaminated with infected sera. 10 In the 1930s there were at least two outbreaks of hepatitis in children following vaccination against mumps and measles that reminded the scientific community of the German experience of 1885 and strengthened the belief that it was the syringe and not the drug or the vaccine that was to be blamed. 11 , 12 And when during World War II, when more than 100 British soldiers developed jaundice after administration of convalescent serum of mumps that was almost conclusive.…”

Prevention of Post-Arsphenamine Jaundice

“…We have pointed out before (Beattie and Marshall, 1944) that in a clinic under the supervision of one of us the incidence of post-arsphenamine jaundice during the years 1942 and 1943 was over 50% of all cases treated entirely at the clinic. The incidence did not vary from month to month.…”