PORTALS OF ENTRY OF INFECTIOUS AGENTS. 183 



The discharges from syphilitic lesions in the infant 

 are highly dangerous to everyone who handles it except 

 its mother. In such children sores of the mouth are 

 common, and wet-nurses have frequently been known 

 to contract the disease from suckling them. 



Cryptogenic infections refer to those deep- 

 Cryptogenic. seated affections for which a portal of 



entry cannot be found. Endocarditis (in- 

 flammation of the heart valves), osteomyelitis (inflam- 

 mation of bone), etc., are illustrations of this type of 

 infection. 



