PERITONmS AND BACTEREMIA IN MICE 



injection; after 48 hours in those cooled down 24 hours before; and 

 after 24 hours in mice hypothermic for 48 hours before injection of 

 bacteria. 



The Influence on Endogeneous Bacteremia of Antibacterial Treat- 

 ment 



The experiments now described indicate thatbacteremia or peri- 

 tonitis, or both, occurred almost regularly in mice subjected to 

 prolonged hypothermia, though they were more frequent in mice 

 which succumbed in a hypothermic state than in animals sacrificed 

 in good condition after the same time for hypothermia. The signifi- 

 cance of these observations is not clear. Bacteremia and peritonitis 

 may be the dominating cause of debilitation and death, or it may be 

 a concomitant of other changes due to hypothermia. In order to shed 

 some light on this problem, experiments were arranged in which 

 hypothermic mice were treated with a combination of sulpha drugs 

 and streptomycin during hypothermia. This combination was found 

 in preliminary in vitro tests to be most effective against the bac- 

 terial strains usually found in bacteremia. 



The influence of such treatment on the intestinal flora is pre- 

 sented in Figure lb, from which it can be seen that a shift from a 

 dominance of coliform bacilli to a prevalence of enterococci was 

 effected. 



In several of the previouslydescribed experiments on the develop- 

 ment of bacteremia in prolonged hypothermia, groups of antibac- 

 terially treated mice were run in parallel. The results are seen in 

 Figure 4b and Figures 2b and 3b. It is evident that bacteremia was 

 largely prevented by the treatment. The survival time, however, 

 was not prolonged; not even in the experiment where the untreated 

 animals were given blind injections to compensate for the stress 

 which repeated injections per se might mean for the treated mice. 



1 The preparations and doses used were: "Sulfodital" (Sulfonazole 37 p. c, Sulfadiazine 

 37 p. c, Sulfamerazine 26 p. c.) 100 mg/kg/day; subcutaneously divided into two doses: 

 and streptomycin 40 mg/kg/day, in one dose. 



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