468 Diphtheria 



tally drew a living virulent culture of the diphtheria bacillus 

 through a pipet into my mouth. Through carelessness no 

 precautions were taken to prevent serious consequences, and 

 two days later my throat was filled with typical pseudo- 

 membrane which private and Health Board bacteriologic 

 examinations showed to contain pure cultures of the Klebs- 

 Loffler bacilli. 



Some have been led to doubt the specificity of the diphtheria 

 bacillus because of the existence of what is called the pseudo- 

 diphtheria bacillus or bacillus of Hofmann (q. v.). Bomstein* 

 found that though it was possible to modify the activity of 

 virulent bacilli, and bring back the virulence of non- virulent 

 diphtheria bacilli, it was impossible to make the pseudo- 

 diphtheria bacillus virulent. Denny f also found that the 

 morphology of the two organisms was continually different 

 when they were grown upon the same medium for the same 

 length of time, and that the short pseudodiphtheria bacillus 

 never showed any tendency to develop into the large clubbed 

 forms characteristic of the true diphtheria organism. The 

 chief points of difference between the bacilli are that the 

 pseudodiphtheria bacillus, when grown upon blood-serum, is 

 short and stains uniformly; that cultures grown in bouillon 

 develop more rapidly at a temperature of from 20 to 22 C. 

 than those of the true bacillus; and that the pseudobacillus 

 is not pathogenic for animals. 



Contagion. The diphtheria bacilli, being always present 

 in the throats of patients suffering from diphtheria, con- 

 stitute the element of contagion, and by being accidentally 

 discharged from the nose and mouth during coughing, 

 sneezing, vomiting, etc., endanger whoever comes in contact 

 with the patient. 



The results obtained by Biggs, Park, and Beebe in New 

 York are of great interest. Bacteriologic examinations 

 conducted in connection with the Health Department of 

 New York city show that virulent diphtheria bacilli may 

 be found in the throats of convalescents from diphtheria, 

 as long as five weeks after the discharge of the membrane 

 and the commencement of recovery, and that they exist 

 not only in the throats of the patients themselves, but also 

 in those of their caretakers, who, while not themselves 

 infected, may be the means of conveying the disease germs 

 * "Archiv Russes de Path.," etc., Aug. 31, 1902. 

 t American Public Health Association, 1902. 



