VACCINE THERAPY 197 



to have been able to produce amyloid substance 1 in the internal organs 

 of animals treated with prolonged systemic infections of pure cultures 

 of staphylococci. 



Experiments with Staphylococci. Many investigators have experi- 

 mented upon themselves with staphylococci and animal experiments 

 without number have been made. The results^show that man is more 

 susceptible to the detrimental effects than any of the lower animals. 

 The difference in virulency in the Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, 

 albus, and citreus can be very well exhibited by injecting small amounts 

 of bouillon cultures into the anterior chamber of the eye of a number 

 of rabbits. The aureus generally causes a very violent suppurative 

 panophthalmitis (inflammation of the entire eyeball), destroying the 

 eye, and sometimes leads to a general infection (septicopyemia) and 

 death. The albus produces a less serious inflammation and the 

 citreus a very mild one. 



Resistance of the Organisms. The resistance of different strains of 

 staphylococci toward inimical, physical, and chemical agents varies 

 considerably. Sternberg killed cultures by an exposure to a temper- 

 ature of 62 C. for ten minutes and 80 C. for 1 J minutes. Others 

 have had cultures which could withstand 60 C. for one hour without 

 being killed. The resistance of these cocci evidently is increased by 

 previous drying out, particularly in pus. An exposure for thirty 

 to sixty minutes at 80 C., however, apparently kills the pathogenic 

 staphylococci under all conditions. Repeated freezing alternating 

 with thawing seems to have no effect whatever upon the organism. 

 Direct sunlight does not appear to kill the staphylococci even after 

 several hours. Drying has little effect, and kills them only after many 

 weeks. The effect of antiseptics and germicides upon pyogenic bac- 

 teria is as follows : Solution of corrosive sublimate 1 to 1000 kills the 

 staphylococci in thirty to sixty minutes; chloroform vapors in twenty 

 minutes; iodoform has no effect whatever; absolute alcohol has no 

 effect upon dried cocci, but 50 per cent, alcohol kills them in ten 

 minutes; 3 per cent, carbolic acid in two to two and one-half minutes; 

 1 per cent, solution of formalin in twenty-four hours; even a 5 per 

 cent, solution of formalin only kills after thirty to thirty-five minutes. 

 Some of the anilin stains, like methyl violet, even in very weak solu- 

 tions, kill staphylococci very quickly. 



Vaccine Therapy. Chronic staphylococcus infections of a low type, 

 such as furuncles, discharging sinuses, old abscesses, etc., have been 

 found capable of improvement, and often of cure, by vaccine or bac- 

 terine treatment. An autogenous vaccine, i. e., one from a pure culture 

 obtained from the infected patient, gives the best results in these 



1 Amyloid material or substance is one of the hyaline materials, which are degenerative, 

 pathologic products. It has certain characteristic staining properties and certain color re- 

 actions like starch (amylum). It is, however, not a carbohydrate like starch, but a proteid 

 body. It is first formed or deposited in the walls of the small vessels of the internal organs, 

 particularly the spleen, liver, and kidneys. 



