An experimental examination of mesenteric glands, tonsils and adenoids : with reference to the presence of virulent tubercle bacilli / by Allan MacFadyen, M.D., and Alfred MacConkey, M.B. from the Bacteriological Department, Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine.

  • Macfayden, Allan, 1860-1907
Date:
[1903?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: An experimental examination of mesenteric glands, tonsils and adenoids : with reference to the presence of virulent tubercle bacilli / by Allan MacFadyen, M.D., and Alfred MacConkey, M.B. from the Bacteriological Department, Jenner Institute of Preventive Medicine. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    other half peritoneally into a guinea-pig. At the end of six to eight weeks any animals which had survived that period were killed and examined. The results were only considered positive in those cases in which tubercle bacilli were detected by microscopical examination of the lesions present in animals. The post-mortem notes of the cases were furnished by the pathol¬ ogist who had made the examination, and our thanks are due par¬ ticularly to Dr. Cecil Bosanquet, to Dr. Fennell, and to Dr. Nabarro, whose aid rendered the investigation possible. The post-mortem findings and the general results of the inocula¬ tion experiments are contained in the accompanying table. It only, therefore, remains for us to give the inferences we have drawn from the results obtained. The total number of cases upon which the present paper is based is twenty-eight. We had hoped to increase the number, but unexpected difficulties arose in the way of procuring further material. The results, however, appear to be of sufficient interest to justify their being put on record. The material examined was obtained as far as possible from cases of 5 years of age and under, as it is in such cases that a food infec¬ tion would be most likely to occur. Only two cases were above 5—the one being about 6 and the other about 8 years of age. As regards sex, sixteen were males, nine females, and in three the sex was unrecorded. The examination for virulent tubercle bacilli was made irrespective of disease. In none of the pathological reports was mention made of the detection of intestinal lesions. In the twenty-eight cases the post-mortem diagnosis was as follows : Acute miliary tuberculosis, one; general tuberculosis, four; tuberculous meningitis, two; tuberculous broncho-pneumonia, one ; non-tuberculous or suffer¬ ing from other diseases, twenty. There was, therefore, existent tuberculous disease in eight of the cases. The animal inoculation experiments showed that virulent tubercle bacilli were present in the mesenteric glands in ten of the twenty- eight cases eighteen having given negative results. Of the eight cases diagnosed as tuberculous, five gave a positive and three a negative result. The positive results estimated upon the total number of cases examined amounted to nearly 36 per cent. If the cases diagnosed as tuberculous are eliminated, it will be seen that five of the twenty non-tuberculous cases contained virulent tubercle bacilli in the mesenteric glands, and that in these cases the positive results were equal to 25 per cent. As regards the other glands of the body examined, the following results were obtained : The bronchial glands gave a positive result in one out of four cases examined—namely, a case of general tuberculosis. The tubercle bacillus was found in the mesenteric glands, and likewise in the cervical glands of the same case. As regards the ten positive results obtained by inoculation experi¬ ments, the mesenteric glands were also examined microscopically in nine instances. Of the latter, in seven instances whilst the animal experiment was positive, the microscopic examination was negative.
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