The Strange Case of BeriBeri In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people
ID: 133772 • Letter: T
Question
The Strange Case of BeriBeri In 1887 a strange nerve disease attacked the people in the Dutch East Indies. The disease was beriberi. Symptoms of the disease included weakness and loss of appetite, victims often died of heart failure. Scientists thought the disease might be caused by bacteria. They injected chickens with bacteria from the blood of patients with beriberi. The injected chickens became sick. However, so did a group of chickens that were not injected with bacteria. One of the scientists, Dr. Eijkman, noticed something. Before the experiment, all the chickens had eaten whole-grain rice, but during the experiment, the chickens were fed polished rice. Dr. Eijkman researched this interesting case and found that polished rice lacked thiamine, a vitamin necessary for good health. 1. State the Problem 2. What was the hypothesis? 3. How was the hypothesis tested? 4. Should the hypothesis be supported or rejected based on the experiment? 5. What should be the new hypothesis and how would you test it?Explanation / Answer
1. Beriberi is a nerve disease which causal agent is unknown.
2. Beriberi is an infectious disease caused by bacteria
3. They established two groups: one control and one experimental. The healthy chickens of the experimental group were injected with bacteria from the blood of patients with beriberi. The control group wasn’t injected with blood with bacteria.
4. The hypothesis should be rejected because some healthy chickens of the control group acquire the sickness also. So the bacteria isn’t the causal agent of beriberi.
5. Beriberi is a nutritional disease in chickens caused by eating polished rice.
For proving it I would use the chickens with beriberi from the previous experiment (from the previous control and experimental groups) and feed it with whole grain rice. If the hypothesis is right a significant amount of chickens with beriberi would become healthy.
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