The sources and modes of infection / by Charles V. Chapin.

  • Charles V. Chapin
Date:
1912
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The sources and modes of infection / by Charles V. Chapin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    42/506 (page 24)
    stroyed by other bacteria, for they can rarely be found in feces after two days.1 Dysentery Amebae. — One form of tropical dysentery is caused by an ameba, a protozoan, not a bacterium. There has been much dispute concerning these ameba?, but it is now, however, believed by the best observers that Entameba coli, commonly found in the intestines, and else- where, is a harmless parasite, but that E. histolytica and E. tetragena, and perhaps E. minuta and E. nipponica, are true parasites and pathogenic. Craig2 in recent work shows that in all probability the amebae which cause dis- ease in man do not grow readily, if at all, outside of the body. As most convincing evidence he alleges the ina- bility to grow in cultures the pathogenic forms in regions where there are no saprophytic forms to contaminate the cultures and deceive the observer. Bacteria of Suppuration. — The formation of pus in wounds, abscesses, or elsewhere, is practically always the result of infection by bacteria. Many varieties of bacteria may cause suppuration, but a few species such as the Micro- coccus aureus, M. albus and M. citreus, and Streptococcus pyogenes, are by far the most common cause of this proc- ess According to a resume given by Gotschlich3 they are constantly found growing in the skin and on the mucous surfaces. References are of course given m his article to numerous original investigations, but among more recent ob- servations may be mentioned those of Ruediger,4 Gordon* and Hess.6 These bacteria are also found m the tonsils and i Kruse, Deutsche med. Wchnschr., 1901, XXVII, 370, 386. * The Parasitic Amoebae of Man, Phila., 1911, 58 ' Gotschlich, Kolle and Wassermann, Handbuch [etc.], Jena, 19U^, T 147 ' 4 Ruediger, J. Am. M. Ass., Chicago, 1906 XLVII 1172. * Gordon, Rep. Med. Off. Local Gov. Bd., Lond., 1904-5, XXXIV, 387eHess, Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. [etc.], I Abt. Orig., Jena, 1907, XLIV, 1.