1840 WILCOX, Whitman (1808 – 1876)

Violent symptoms from the bite of a rat.

First report of rat-bite fever to appear in a medical journal.

GMN 5322 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6618

1888 CARTER, Henry Vandyke (1831 – 1897)

Note on the occurrence of a minute blood-spirillum in an Indian rat.

Demonstration of Spirillum minus, later shown to be a cause of rat-bite fever. (See also No. 5327).

GMN 5323 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6621

1912 HATA, Sahachiro (1873 – 1938)

Salvarsantherapie der Rattenbisskrankheit in Japan.

Salvarsan first used in the treatment of rat-bite fever.

GMN 5324 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6624

1914 SCHOTTMÜLLER, Hugo (1867 – 1936)

Zurt Aetiologie und Klinik der Bisskrankheit.

Isolation of Streptothrix (Actinomyces) muris ratti from human patients bitten by rats.

GMN 5325 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6627

1916 FUTAKI, Kenzo (1873 – 1966); ET AL

The cause of rat-bite fever.

K. Futaki, I. Takaki, T. Taniguchi, and S. Osumi found a spirillum (Sp. morsus muris) in the lymphatic glands and blood stream in cases of rat-bite fever (sodoku).

GMN 5326 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6630

1924 ROBERTSON, Andrew

Observations on the causal organism of rat-bite fever in man.

Robertson proved one of the causal organisms of rat-bite fever to be Sp. morsus muris. He re-named it Spirillum minus Carter, 1887, identifying it as the first spiral micro-organism to be described from a rodent.

GMN 5327 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6633

1926 PLACE, Edwin Hemphill (1880 – ); ET AL

Erythema arthriticum epidemicum; preliminary report.

“Haverhill fever” first reported. The writers isolated an organism, later found to be identical with Streptothrix muris ratti and Streptobacillus moniliformis. With L. E. Sutton and O. Willner.

GMN 5328 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6636

1937 LEMIERRE, André (1875 – 1956); ET AL

Sur une nouvelle fièvre par morsure de rat.

A. Lemierre, J. Reilly, A. Laporte, and M. Morin isolated Streptobacillus moniliformis from a case of rat-bite fever.

GMN 5329 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6643