Armstrong – Table of Contents

Bloedorn (25), all of which had similar clinical histories, physical examinations and
laboratory findings, and all the sera of which showed immunologic protection in animals
against infection with the virus. They also reported the isolation of the virus by Eric
Traub (28) of the National Naval Research Center in March 1935 from white mice and by
T. M. Rivers and T. F. Scott (28) of the Rockefeller Institute in May 1935. Subsequent
studies of the viruses of Armstrong, Traub, Rivers, and Scott by cross neutralization
experiments showed that these three viruses were immunologically identical.
The two manuscripts (23, 24), utilizing almost identical language, provided the
following summary: 1) A symptom complex of headache, fever, signs of meningeal
irritation, cerebrospinal fluid under increased pressure, with an increase in cells
predominantly lymphocytes, coupled with normal chemical values (chloride, sugar, urea)
and a negative spinal fluid Wasserman test (for syphilis) was a clinical entity, usually
running a benign course, that had previously been designated in man as acute aseptic
meningitis. 2) The virus of Armstrong (LCM) produced a symptom complex in monkeys
similar to the above. 3) The blood serum of patients recovered from the disease protected
animals from the virus of Armstrong (National Institute of Health). Serum taken early in
the disease showed no protection and usually demonstrated protective antibodies only
after the second week of illness. 4) This disease occurred sporadically in man and had
been transferred experimentally to animals. 5) The strains isolated by Armstrong at the
National Institute of Health, Traub at the National Naval Research Laboratory, and
Rivers and Scott at the Rockefeller Institute were identical by serological studies. 6) The
cases reported in these manuscripts by Armstrong and Dickens covered scattered