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

  • Charles V. Chapin
Date:
1912
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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.

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    lymph glands, apparently remaining latent for long periods of time, i.e., not causing suppuration. Bacteria such as the above, which are the constant parasites, or perhaps rather commensals of man, are naturally to be looked for in the vicinity of man and on the surfaces of the body, on clothing, utensils, furniture; and the dust and dirt of all places fre- quented by human beings are found to contain more or less of them. They may also be found in polluted waters. But whether under natural conditions they are commonly able to maintain a saprophytic existence is another matter. Judg- ing from what I have read in the text-books I should suppose that the pus organisms are not so limited as to the conditions of their growth as are most disease-producing bacteria. They are not so dependent on a high and even temperature or on the composition of the medium on which they grow. I should suppose that they would be more likely to maintain a sap- rophytic existence than most other pathogenic organisms, yet I do not know that such existence for them has ever been demonstrated. In fact Gotschlich1 says that they are not saprophytes. Bacillus pyocyaneus has, however, been found, by Gorham, growing in a heap of moist rags at a paper mill. Diphtheria.— Diphtheria was not so very long ago believed to be a filth disease, that is, its germs were supposed to have a habitat outside of the body in various forms of dirt. This theory was common during my medical-school days, and when I began health-department work in 1884, I tried to fit the facts as I saw them to this theory. But they did not fit, and the impression continued to grow that diphtheria was a purely contagious disease. The life habits of the diph- theria bacillus indicate that while it is more resistant than some other disease-producing organisms next to be men- tioned, and somewhat easier to cultivate, it is very unlikely that it is able to propagate itself outside of the body, except at times in milk. Houston,2 while he does not consider his 1 Gotschlich, Kolle and Wassermann, Handbuch [etc.], Jena, IV, 173. 2 Houston, Loc. Gov. Bd. Rep. of Med. Off., 1898-9, XXVIII,' 413.