Armstrong – Table of Contents

Medicine, Chairman of the Council’s research committee that had the task of finding the
cause of the epidemic (Dr. Muckenfuss later became Director of Laboratories for the
New York City Health Department). The committee also consisted of other
representatives of Washington University, St. Louis University and the various hospitals
in which there were cases of the disease. Dr. H. A. McCordock, Associate Professor of
Pathology, Washington University School of Medicine, was to provide support for
pathological tissue examination. Armstrong joined this group to set up a laboratory for
the isolation of a possible infectious agent. The group, led by Armstrong, set up a special
isolation facility within the Washington University campus, and under Armstrong’s
direction, and his personal involvement, they began inoculating brain and other tissues
from the victims of the fatal disease into a variety of laboratory animals. On September 8,
1933, at a meeting of the Metropolitan Health Council (6), Armstrong, Muckenfuss and
McCordock presented a preliminary report describing the possible isolation of an agent in
monkeys whose brains at autopsy showed changes similar to the brains of patients who
had died of encephalitis. A definitive report published shortly thereafter (8) described the
serial transmission of an agent in Macacus rhesus monkeys from the brains of 7 of 15
fatal human cases. As opposed to isolation attempts in previous encephalitis
investigations, the probable reasons for the successful isolation and transfers of the agent
were the heavy doses of the brain inoculations, additional inoculation into the abdomen,
and repeated inoculations. Armstrong used heavy inoculations (1.5-2.0 ml.) of a thick
brain emulsion intracerebrally (into the brain), combined with 5-10 ml. into the abdomen
(intraperitoneally). He repeated the inoculations after an interval of 4-5 days.