670 Bacillus Coli 



and is excreted with the urine, causing, incidentally, local 

 inflammatory areas in the kidney, and occasionally cystitis. 

 A case of urethritis is reported to have been caused by it. 



In infants cholera infantum may not infrequently be 

 caused by the colon bacillus, though probably in this disease 

 other bacteria play an important role (B. dysenteriae?). 



The bile-ducts are sometimes invaded by the bacillus, 

 which may lead to inflammation, obstruction, suppuration, 

 or calculus formation. 



The colon bacillus has also been met with in puerperal 

 fever, Winckel's disease of the newborn,* endocarditis, men- 

 ingitis, liver-abscess, bronchopneumonia, pleuritis, chronic 

 tonsillitis, urethritis, and arthritis. 



An interesting summary of the pathogenic effect of Bacillus 

 coli can be found in Rolleston's paper in the "British Medi- 

 cal Journal" for Nov. 4, 1911, p. 1186. 



In a certain number of cases general hemic infection may 

 be caused by Bacillus coli. In 1909 Jacob t published an 

 analysis of 39 such cases, and in 1910 Draper! increased the 

 number to 43. Wiens also reported 6 cases and Maher|| i 

 case, so that the total now stands 50. 



Virulence. It is a question whether the colon bacillus is 

 always virulent, or whether it becomes so under abnormal 

 conditions. Klencki** found it very virulent in the ileum, 

 and less so in the colon and jejunum of dogs. He also 

 found that the virulence was greatly increased in a strangu- 

 lated portion of intestine. Dreyfus ft found that the colon 

 bacillus as it occurs in normal feces is not virulent. Most 

 experimenters believe that pathologic conditions, such as 

 disease of the intestine, strangulation of the intestine, etc., 

 increase its virulence. 



Frequent transplantation lessens the virulence of the 

 bacillus; passage through animals increases it. 



It has been observed that cultures of the bacillus obtained 

 from cases of cholera, cholera nostras, and other intestinal 

 diseases are more pathogenic than those obtained from 

 normal feces or from pus. 



"Kamen-Ziegler's Beitrage," 1896, 14. 



t "Deutsch. Archiv. f. Klin. Med.," 1909, xcvii, 303. 



t "Bull, of the Ayer Clin. Lab. of the Penna. Hosp.," 1910, No. 6, p. 21. 



"Munch, med. Woch.," 1909, LVI, 962. 



|| "Med. Record," 1909, LXXV, 482. 

 ** "Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur," 1895, No. 9. 

 ft "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., xvi, p. 581 



