§ Mr. J. F. GREENasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture whether he will supply the names and addresses of the people, bitten by alleged mad dogs; if he will inform the House whether the alleged microbe of rabies has ever been indisputably identified; if so, by whom, when, and where; how the results of the post-mortem examination of the carcase of an alleged mad dog differ from those of dogs suffering from any other form of acute cerebral irritation; and is he aware that there have been more than 3,000 deaths from hydrophobia in persons who have been protected against it by anti-rabic virus at the various Pasteur institutes?
Sir ARTHUR BOSCAWENThe first part of the question should be addressed to the Local Government Board as the Department responsible for the treatment of people who have been bitten by rabid dogs. The casual agent of rabies was cultivated artificially by Noguchi at the Rockefeller Institute, U.S.A., in 1912. There are present in the brain of a mad dog specific bodies (negri bodies) which are diagnostic and which are not found in the brain of a dog suffering from any other form of acute cerebral irritation. The Board have no information as to the1938W latter part of the question, but they are informed that the number of people who die after treatment is under 1 per cent., as compared with at least 16 per cent. of deaths among those who have been bitten, by rabid dogs and have not been treated.