206 BACTERIOLOGY FOR NURSES 



differ culturally from the typhoid bacillus in that they produce 

 acid and gas from glucose while the former produce acid only. 

 At the other end of the scale are organisms just as closely related 

 to the colon bacilli. Possibly the members of the group are 

 links in a chain connecting the two groups. 



Attention has centered around these organisms mainly because 

 of their connection with " food poisoning." Such poisoning is 

 usually spoken of as " ptomain poisoning," and is the result of 

 poisonous products formed from the food itself. The food at 

 fault may not appear in any way unusual, a bacteriological ex- 

 amination being necessary to determine the presence of the 

 bacteria. Preserved foods or sausages are the most frequent 

 cause of poisoning ; cases have been reported from milk and milk 

 products. It is important to note that ptomains are relatively 

 resistant to heat and that the organisms themselves, while not 

 especially resistant, may escape unharmed by the usual cooking 

 processes when embedded in sausage or joints of meat. 



In 1888 in a village in Saxony a cow which had been sick for 

 two days with profuse diarrhea was slaughtered and the meat 

 sold for food. Fifty-seven persons who ate the meat became ill 

 and one case ended fatally; a young man who had eaten the 

 meat raw died in about thirty-six hours. From this fatal case 

 and also from the flesh of the diseased cow Gartner isolated an 

 organism to which he gave the name B. enteritidis. As its name 

 implies, the lesions produced by the organism are intestinal. 

 Notably an inflammation of the mucous membrane and occasion- 

 ally hemorrhages occur. When infection is caused by the bacillus 

 itself symptoms do not usually appear until about twenty-four 

 hours or more after the food has been eaten. When they appear 

 at once they are undoubtedly due to the poisonous ptomains 

 already formed from the food. 



Paratyphoid Bacilli. In 1896 Acharde and Bensaude obtained 

 from the urine of a patient suffering from an infection similar to 

 typhoid fever an organism which they named the paratyphoid 

 bacillus. In 1900-1901 Schottmiiller isolated from the blood of 

 patients showing much the same symptoms two bacilli closely 



