CHAPTER XIX. 



BACILLI OF THE HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA GROUP BACILLUS 

 AVISEPTICUS, BOVISEPTICUS, OVISEPTICUS, SUISEPTICUS, 

 AND EQUISEPTICUS BACILLUS OF DOG TYPHOID- 

 PLAGUE BACILLUS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. 



MANY bacterial infections, when they take a violent, rapidly fatal 

 course, may lead to hemorrhagic septicemia, that is, to a general 

 infection of the blood with extensive multiplication of the bacteria in 

 the blood current and with the formation of areas of hemorrhagic 

 inflammation in the mucous and serous membranes and in the various 

 internal organs of the body. A staphylococcus or a streptococcus 

 infection may lead to a hemorrhagic septicemia of this kind, but 

 considering the great number of infections with these organisms in 

 man and domestic animals this result is not very common. 



On the other hand, certain bacteria, in a great majority of cases, 

 lead to such hemorrhagic septicemias, and they are known as the 

 group of bacilli of hemorrhagic septicemia. These organisms have 

 a number of common features. All are rather small, short bacilli, 

 with rounded ends, which do not form spores, do not liquefy gelatin, 

 are non-motile and Gram negative, and stain in a peripheral or polar 

 manner so that on first sight they often appear like diplococci. Other 

 bacteria, such as the anthrax bacillus, also commonly produce a 

 hemorrhagic septicemia, but they have different morphologic, cul- 

 tural, and biologic properties, and do not belong to this group. 



Historical. Rivolto and Semmer, in 1878, and Pasteur, in 1880, 

 described a bacillus of the type indicated as the cause of fowl cholera; 

 Gaffky, in 1881, a similar one as the cause of septicemia in rabbits; 

 Kitt, in 1883, one for the disease among wild animals called "Wild- 

 seuche," by Bollinger; and Loeffler, and later Smith, in 1886, one as 

 the cause of swine plague or "Schweineseuche." Hueppe, from his 

 studies of the various bacilli of this group, concluded that they were 

 more or less identical, and proposed to classify them as the group of 

 bacilli of hemorrhagic septicemia. It was subsequently ascertained 

 that bacilli of this group are also the cause of infectious pleuropneu- 

 monia of calves, barbone disease of buffaloes, the hemorrhagic septi- 

 cemias of cattle, infectious pneumonia of goats, infectious pneumonia 

 of horses, and a hemorrhagic g astro-enteritis of dogs. Ligniere and 

 Trevisans, in 1890, gave the name of Pasteurella to the diseases of 

 this group, and designated the bacteria themselves as Pasteurelloses. 1 



1 Kitt, with all due respect for the genius of Pasteur, severely criticized an attempt of this 

 kind to change well-known names, which could only lead to confusion in the nomenclature of 

 diseases and their causative factors. He ironically remarks that a general adoption of such a 

 principle would lead to names of diseases and their bacteria like Kochella (for tuberculosis), 

 Loefflerella or Schuetzella (for glanders), Schulzerella, Millerelose, Smithellose, etc. 



