Till: D) SI-XTERY BACILLI 253 



means of transmission in one epidemic. Fischer thinks transmission 

 may take place through the excreta. It will subsequently be seen that 

 psittacosis may be transmitted from man to man. 



Epidemics of meat poisoning may occur in any season, but are more 

 frequent during the warm months. 



Symptomatology. While the characteristic symptoms of sausage 

 poisoning relate to the nervous system, in true meat poisoning they 

 an- gastrointestinal. Fischer divides meat poisoning into three clinical 

 forms: (1) typhoidal; (2) choleraic; (3) gastroenteric. 



Prevention. Since neither appearance nor taste affords any clue 

 to the noxious quality of tiie infected meat, its unfitness for food can 

 only be told through bacteriological examination or a knowledge of its 

 source. Dunham states that thorough cooking will kill the bacilli, 

 but it must be remembered that in this process the thermal death point 

 of the bacilli may not be reached in the innermost portions of the meat. 



Bacillus Faecalis Alcaligenus. 



This bacillus resembles a colon bacilus which has lost its power to 

 ferment sugars. Morphologically it resembles the typhoid bacillus. It is 

 frequently present in the intestines and may have pathogenic properties. 



The Dysentery Bacillus The Paradysentery Bacilli (Mannite 

 Fermenting Types). 



Dysentery may be divided into acute and chronic. Amoebae appear 

 to be the chief exciting factor in most cases of chronic dysentery, though 

 bacilli of the colon group also play a part. 



In temperate climates acute dysentery is but very rarely due to 

 amcjebse, but usually to the bacilli identified by Shiga or to allied 

 bacilli identified by Kruse, Flexner, and Park. By dysentery we mean 

 a definite symptom complex; it is not an etiological term. In acute 

 dysentery the onset is sudden and ushered in by cramps, diarrhea, 

 and tenesmus. The stools at first feculent, then seromucous, become 

 bloody or composed of coffee-ground sediment. At the height of the 

 disease there are ten to fifty stools in the twenty-four hours. After 

 two to seven days the blood usually disappears. In temperate climates 

 the mortality varies from 5 to 20 per cent. 



In severe cases in adults the lesions are of a diphtheritic character 

 and may be very marked. In young children, even in fatal cases, the 

 lesions may be more superficial. The following macroscopic and 

 microscopic report of the intestinal findings on a fatal case of bacillary 

 dysentery in an infant is a typical picture: 



Small Intestines. Slightly distended. Mesenteric glands large and 

 red. 



Large Intestines. Outer surface vessels congested and prominent. 

 On section covered with a yellowish mucus. Mucous membrane seems 



