The bacteriology of the eyelids / George S. Derby.

  • Derby, George S.
Date:
1906
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The bacteriology of the eyelids / George S. Derby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    LID ABSCESS AND PHLEGMON. Abscess formation is due in most cases to infection with the ordinary pyogenic cocci. Ogston examined the pus from 100 cases and found cocci in all the acute ones. Steinhaus analysed 330 cases of different observers and found in 66 per cent, staphylococci, in 20 per cent, strep- tococci and a mixture of the two forms in 9 per cent. Other organisms are rare. To the staphylococcus is com- monly due the acute localized processes terminating in pus formation, while the streptococcus is more often con- cerned in the production of spreading inflammation such as phlegmonous cellulitis. The bacteriology of abscesses and phlegmonous inflam- mations of the lids differs not at all from that in other localities. This is well illustrated in a small series of cases reported by Gallenga,9 who observed, during the summer of 1904, and chiefly among poor people afflicted with various dermatoses, a large number of abscesses occurring on the lids and also on other parts of the body. In his series of twelve bacteriologic examinations he ob- tained the staphylococcus ten times and the streptococ- cus twice. Among the etiologic factors leading to lid abscess, an infected wound is without doubt the most frequent; I have already spoken of furuncle and erysipelas. Car- ron de Villards10 describes severe infections from the sting or bite of a large variety of insects and scorpions and in this connection Zia11 reports the case of a child who developed a phlegmonous swelling of the lid due, the parents thought, to the bite of a fly. Under acute symptoms an abscess formed, accompanied by gangrene of the conjunctiva, extension to the orbit, meningitis, and death. An examination disclosed the Staphylococ- cus aureus in pure culture. Elschnig12 and others men- tion as among the causes of lid phlegmon, extension of infection from neighboring parts as from an acute dacry- ocystitis, from orbital phlegmon, panophthalmitis with suppuration of the peribulbar tissue, periostitis and ne- crosis of the bony walls of the orbit and empyema of the accessory nasal sinuses. Fage13 has seen orbital and palpebral abscesses from suppuration of the orbital pro- cess of the superior maxilla and Galezowski14 has seen many similar cases. Ziem15 reports an abscess in the lower lid of a child, extending from an antrum infected by a carious tooth socket. Occasionally infection of the
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