Microbe Saves Village from
Nazis
Few real-life monsters loom as large in our memories as the ruthlessly
efficient Nazis. During World War II, millions of people were
murdered by the Gestapo or died under forced labor. Yet one small
Polish village was largely spared thanks to the power of a humble
bacterium to deceive the brutal regime.
Two Polish physicians, Dr. Eugeniusz Lazowski and Dr. Stanislav
Matulewicz, had learned of a strange phenomenon involving a soil
bacterium called Proteus 0X19. It seems this bacterium
stimulates production of antibodies that mirror those generated
by Rickettsia prowazekii, the typhus bacterium. Typhus
is a disease marked by high, prolonged fever and rash. Highly
contagious, it often proved fatal-in World War I typhus killed
more people than did bullets. The Nazis were particularly fearful
of typhus since the disease had not occurred in their country
for a quarter-century.
Lazowski and Matulewicz began injecting the citizens of Rozvadow,
a village about 124 miles (200 km) southwest of Warsaw, with
Proteus 0X19. When blood samples from these individuals
were sent for testing, they turned up "positive" for
antibodies indicating typhus infection. As more and more tests
came back "positive," German officials became convinced
that a typhus epidemic was raging in this corner of Poland.
Fortunately for the good doctors and the Rozvadow citizens, the
Nazis relied heavily on lab results and were either too lax or
too fearful to conduct thorough examinations of the few "typhus
victims" they actually saw. One team of German doctors sent
to the town to investigate was shown an elderly man dying of
pneumonia as "proof" of the ravages of typhus on the
townspeople. Their fears of disease stoked, they hurridly carried
out only spot checks of town buildings and left certain of the
epidemic.
As "typhus carriers," the Rozvadow people were not
conscripted into forced labor and the Nazis avoided the vicinity
for the most part. Thus, Proteus 0X19 fooled the Nazis
and saved hundreds of lives.
This account is drawn from Power Unseen: How Microbes Rule
the World, a book of microbial vignettes by Bernard Dixon.
|
Science News
