Report of experiments and observations on the vitality of the bacillus of typhoid fever and of sewage microbes in oysters and other shellfish / by E. Klein.

  • Edward Emanuel Klein
Date:
[1905]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of experiments and observations on the vitality of the bacillus of typhoid fever and of sewage microbes in oysters and other shellfish / by E. Klein. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    viz., that in the contents of the ileum and in the fluid and semi¬ fluid (typical pea soup) typhoid stools the typhoid bacillus does occur in great numbers. In several instances of cultivation by the Drigalski-Conradi medium it was possible to show that in the fluid typhoid stools the B. typhosus was present to the number of one to three millions per one cubic centimetre, that is to say, about one to two hundred thousand per drop (minim) of the stool. As regards the mesenteric glands and the spleen of a case of typhoid fever, the demonstration by the microscope and particularly by culture of the B. typhosus can be demonstrated readily, and in culture made with a trace of a particle of these organs crowds of typhoid bacilli—generally in pure culture—can be obtained. It has been further shown that in some cases even several months after con¬ valescence has set in, typhoid bacilli are still present in the stools of the patient, although as a rule a few weeks after convalescence has commenced they have practically dis¬ appeared from the bowels. It has further been shown that in localised inflammations following upon the acute stages of the disease—particularly in the lung—the typhoid bacilli may be, and sometimes are, present in large numbers. One of the most important results of research that has been brought to light is this, that typhoid bacilli pass out of the body by way of the kidney and urine in enormous numbers during convalescence, so much so that it has been calculated that in at least 25 per cent, of cases (according to more recent observations over 25 per cent.) the convalescent voids typhoid bacilli by way of the urine (Bacilluria), this fluid being in some marked instances turbid by the number of typhoid bacilli—up to 6000 millions per one cubic centimetre (Dr. Horton Smith, Gulstonian lectures before the Boyal College of Physicians, 1900). It must be obvious that these results are of the utmost importance to public health, and I will for the sake of illustrating this importance take the following into consideration: Up to the time and before the above fact concerning the copious presence of B. typhosus in the urine of a large percentage of convalescents was elucidated, the attention of sanitarians, physicians, and nurses was chiefly
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