210 PHARMACEUTICAL BACTERIOLOGY. 



done conveniently, they should be destroyed by burning. In simple words, 

 everything about the patient must be scrupulously sterilized in order to 

 avoid spreading the infection. 



A national department of health should see to it that the water supply of 

 large cities is free from sewage contamination. Our streams, lakes and 

 reservoirs supplying drinking water require careful guarding against typhoid 

 infection. 



There should be a compulsory regulation regarding the position and 

 depth of wells in farm yards and as regards the position of the well relative 



to barns, cow sheds, privy vaults, etc. Typhoid 

 ^ ^ - fever will continue its ravages as long as filth 



^ ^v ^ ^ contamination of water supplies and food sup- 



\ * &^> # plies is permitted. 



= ^ ^ f\ The Gruber-Widal test for typhoid is an 



4=9 ^ *=> ^ agglutination phenomenon. The agglutinating 



^ ff ^ ^ f) power of the blood of a typhoid patient is usually 



^ /) <=3 ==> noticeable as early as the fifth day of the dis- 



<^ ^ *^>v^ ease - Preventive inoculation with typhoid bac- 



^ ^ j) terin has been used with considerable success, 



particularly in the British and German armies, 

 Fig. 82. Bacillus pneu- , ., , , . 



monia of Friedlander, also and IS now <l mte extensively used in general 

 known as Bacillus mucosus. practice. Chantamesse and Wright use agar 



or broth cultures of the typhoid bacillus, killed 

 by heat. It is declared by some physicians that 

 the bacterin administered early in the disease, checks it, and occasionally 

 effects a prompt cure. 



C. Pneumonia. Pneumonia with its modifications, as broncho-pneu- 

 monia, capillary bronchitis, pleuro-pneumonia, pneumonic pericarditis, etc., 

 is extremely common. The primary cause is the non-sporogenous Diplo- 

 coccus pneumonia (Micrococcus lanceolatus) . The important predisposing 

 causes are exposure to wet and cold, weak lungs, infancy, old age, general 

 debility and alcoholism. The disease is not very infectious, in fact is not 

 generally so considered. It is generally limited to the respiratory tract and 

 the contiguous tissues, as the pericardium and the pleurae. Among infants 

 and young children and those well past middle life, the disease shows a 

 high mortality rate. In youth and early middle life recovery is the rule, 

 provided the physical inheritance and development is good. The mortality 

 rate among those addicted to the use of alcoholic drinks, and those affected 

 with " tobacco heart," is very high. 



One attack of pneumonia is supposed to increase the resisting power to 

 subsequent attacks but such acquired immunity is not by any means per- 

 manent. The anti-pneumococcic serum is used with some apparent success 



