Some moot points in the pathology and clinical history of pneumonia ... / by Percy Kidd.

  • Kidd, Percy.
Date:
[1912?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Some moot points in the pathology and clinical history of pneumonia ... / by Percy Kidd. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    without, or whether it is to be attributed to auto infection with germs constantly present in the throat- is still uncertain. It seems somewhat difficult to believe that the continued presence of diplococci in the throat would not lead to the establishment of a certain degree of immunity against infection with the particular strain, whereas the entrance of a different and perhaps more virulent strain of pneumococcus from external sources might, under certain conditions, be able to cause infection. Mode of Infection of Lung : Aerogenic Theory. If the sources of the diplococci are not in doubt the same cannot be said of the method by which the lung is affected. The view most widely held is that the microbe is inhaled into the lung. This view presents some difficul- ties. From the wide distribution of the germs, whether in the throats of living people or in the form of atmo- spheric dust, the microbe must frequently be inhaled with the air, and yet pneumonia is a more or less excep- tional occurrence. Some other conditions favouring the development of the diplococcus, some disposition, has therefore been assumed. That bacterial organisms can pass into the lungs through the air passages is proved by an experiment of Nenninger [9], in which guinea-pigs were exposed to a spray of a culture of Micrococcus prodigiosus for ten minutes. The animals were killed immediately after- wards by puncture of the medulla, careful precautions against regurgitation of oral secretions into the air passages being taken by clamping the trachea. Cultiva- tions were made from the periphery of the lung, a part which contains only alveoli and smaller bronchi. A plentiful growth of the micrococcus was obtained, show- ing that the germs had been inhaled into the lungs. Weichselbaum, Babes and others have found that the