Malta Fever
In 1904 Horrocks was appointed as a member of the Royal Society's Mediterranean Fever Commission, to investigate the highly contagious disease Malta fever which was prevalent in the British colony of Malta. Identified by Sir David Bruce in 1887, Malta fever was characterised by a low mortality rate but was of indefinite duration. It was accompanied by profuse perspiration, pain and occasional swelling of the joints. In 1905 Sir Themistocles Zammit infected a goat with the bacteria Micrococcus Melitanensis which then caught Malta fever. Horrocks was the first person to find the bacteria in goat's milk, thus identifying the method of transmission.
In attempting to settle the matter of who was responsible for the discovery, Bruce (who had served as chairman of the Commission, wrote to The Times newspaper:
| “ | I saw Dr. Zammit's notes as to two experiments on the effect of feeding goats on materiel containg Micrococcus Melitanensis. I urged Dr. Zammit to continue his invesitgations, and he accordingly bought a small herd of goats. Before proceeding to repeat the feeding experiments on these new goats he examined their blood, as a matter of routine, and much to his surprise, found that five out of the six gave a Malta fever reaction. He then took specimens of the blood to Major Horrocks, another member of the commission, and asked him to confirm his observations. This Horrocks did; and at once Dr. Zammit and he proceeded to examine, the former the blood and the latter the milk of the goats for the Micrococcus Melitanensis, with the result, as is well known, that this micro-organism is found in the blood, and excreted in the milk, to the extent of 10 per cent, of the goats of Malta. | ” |
Horrocks afterwards served as sanitary officer at the British colony of Gibraltar, where he noted that the incidence of Malta fever practically disappeared with the removal of Maltese goats from that place.
Read more about this topic: William Horrocks
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