Disease Transmission and Mans Resistance 301 



The investigators reported that a treated cold lasted just about 

 seven days, while an untreated cold lasted a week! 



^ Bacteremia 



There are times when bacteria gain entrance to the blood 

 stream of man and of lower animals. When biological supply 

 houses are interested in drawing quantities of blood from horses 

 used in the production of antitoxins, food is withheld from these 

 animals for a number of hours before the bleeding operation. 

 Experience has shown that shortly after eating, particularly after 

 a meal of dry hay or grain, it is not uncommon to find bacteria in 

 the bloodstream of these animals. Such a condition is called a 

 BACTEREMIA. To prevent contamination of the blood and also to 

 insure that the blood serum will be clear rather than turbid from 

 circulating food, this withholding of food prior to bleeding is 

 necessary. 



Septicemia 



It is only when bacteria get into the bloodstream and multiply 

 at the expense of the blood in spite of the body defenses that the 

 term septicemia is applied to designate a true blood poisoning 

 which might be fatal unless corrective measures are instituted. It 

 is not uncommon to hear the term bacteremia being used synony- 

 mously with the term septicemia. 



TOXEMIA 

 Bacterial poisons, either pre-formed or generated after entering 

 the body, cause a condition known as toxemia. The destructive 

 power of Clostridium tetani and Conjnehacterium diphtheriae is 

 the result of true toxins excreted by the organisms which them- 

 selves generally remain localized in the body. Bacterial toxins 

 have affinities for specific organs or tissues, and these poisons 

 wreak their havoc at sites sometimes far removed from the focus 

 of the original infection. In the terminal stages of diphtheria, 

 however, it is not uncommon to isolate the living organisms from 

 many sites other than the original localized infection. 



