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Medical Association Journal Casts Doubt on Discovery of Influenza Germ by Dr. Falk

December 18, 1929
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
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The American Medical Association, in the next issue of its journal, whose editor is Dr. Morris Fishbein, will say that the recent announcement by Dr. Isadore Falk, professor of Hygiene and Bacteriology at the University of Chicago, that he had discovered the influenza germ and had isolated it, was “unduly hasty and without warrant.” The “Medical Journal” will say that “there is thus far little or no evidence in scientific or medical literature, or even in spoken addresses, to indicate that I. S. Falk, Ph.D., and his associates, have progressed any further toward the solution of this problem than have workers in other parts of the world, now or in the past.”

While the “Medical Journal” was casting doubt on Dr. Falk’s discovery, Dr. William H. Parks, a member of the Influenza Commission, declared that while he had had no opportunity to verify Dr. Falk’s findings, “all I can say is that it is a very thoughtful piece of work, whether he has found the germ or not.”

From London, Dr. David Thomson who has been doing research work in influenza for three years, paid tribute to Dr. Falk for his reported isolation of the influenza germ.

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