Armstrong – Table of Contents

Armstrong next checked the home conditions of the two patients. Patient 1
became ill in a home located on the outskirts of the District of Columbia (now probably
part of the suburbs). It consisted of a flimsy, slovenly kept shed, attached to which was a
toilet in poor sanitary condition. The inhabitants hauled water from the city supply and
stored it in a container. The house was unscreened. Patient 2 roomed with a couple on the
third floor of a brick house in a well-maintained residential section of the city. The home
was clean, orderly and was equipped with sanitary indoor plumbing that was in good
condition. The patient took his meals at various restaurants and stated that he never
brought food into his room.
Armstrong then inquired about rodent infestation in the environments of the two
patients. Inquiry at the home of Patient 1 elicited the information that many mice had
been noted in September and October 1938 but the occupants had eliminated them by
trapping, poisoning and the burning of sulfur. No recent infestation was noted, but in
December 1938 3 mice were captured, two in the house (kitchen) and one in the grass 75
feet from the patient’s house. One of the house mice, a large female was the only animal
that demonstrated virus. One kidney and one-half the spleen of this mouse passed
infection to laboratory white mice through successive transfers. The virus was identical to
the original strain isolated by Armstrong.
At the rooming house of Patient 2, Armstrong learned that mice had been
especially prevalent during the early summer, but that the inhabitants destroyed many by
trapping. Box traps were set in the home. An adult male was captured in the patient’s
bedroom on January 23, 1939. Pooled organs failed to grow virus when passed
successively into susceptible laboratory mice. A large female, No. 945, and a less than