MICROBIAL DISEASES OF MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 795 



STREPTOCOCCIC INFECTIONS* 



General Septiccemia, Puerperal Septiccemia, Erysipelas, Bronchopneu- 



monia, Etc. 



Streptococcus pyogenes 



Several different methods have been used to classify streptococci. 

 The species Strept. viridans and Strept. hcemolyticus, for example, are 

 based on the action upon haemoglobin. Fermentation of carbohy- 

 drates has claimed much attention, but no satisfactory correlation 

 has been found between a biochemical classification and the clinical 

 forms of infection encountered. Work in the British and American 

 armies suggests that an immunological basis of division will prove bet- 

 ter, and at present four types are indicated. Some French authors 

 desire to separate a group called Enterococcus as distinct from, and of 

 less pathological significance than Streptococcus. 



Streptococcic infections are endemic among all races and under all 

 social conditions. In the days before antisepsis and our knowledge of 

 the transmission of infectious diseases, erysipelas and puerperal sep- 

 ticaemia occurred in epidemics that were the scourges of surgical and 

 lying-in hospitals. 



When the work of Pasteur and Lister became fully comprehended 

 such epidemics ceased to exist. 



Natural Streptococcic infections have been described in horses and 

 cattle and among the laboratory animals, but as a rule such disease is 

 much rarer in animals than in the human being. 



For septicaemia and erysipelas the period of incubation is probably 

 from several hours to three days. For some conditions it is impossible 

 to determine. 



The symptoms of septicaemia begin with a rapid rise of temperature 

 which may reach io5F. or even higher. Chills accompany the fever 

 and are often severe.' The pulse is rapid, irregular and weak and the 

 respiration labored. There may be vomiting and constipation or 

 diarrhoea. Headache is more or less severe with sometimes delirium. 

 In cases lasting for several days the skin appears slightly jaundiced. 

 The urine is of the usual febrile type and, as a rule, shows the micro- 

 organism causing the disease. Death may occur in two or three days 

 or within a week or in milder cases may be followed by recovery. 



* Prepared by Edward Fidlar 



