BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 599 



direct etiological relation to the specific infectious disease from which the pa- 

 tient is suffering e.gr., staphylococci in cases of measles, or streptococci in 

 cases of diphtheria. 



Ascending nephritis is an infectious process, usually due to Bacillus coli 

 communis (See pyelonephritis). 



Letzerich (1887) has described a form of nephritis which he ascribes to a 

 bacillus found by him in the urine and in sections of the kidneys of rabbits 

 inoculated with a culture of this bacillus. 



Lustgarten arid Manneberg (1887) in three cases of acute Bright's disease 

 found streptococci in the urine, which they suppose to have had an etiologi- 

 cal relation to the renal disease. The following year Manneberg reported 

 eleven additional cases, in eight of which he found the same streptococcus,- 

 which he believes to be different from Streptococcus pyogenes, but this can- 

 not be considered as established. Nor has he shown that the streptococcus 

 obtained by him from the urine was present in the kidneys of his patients, 

 or that pure cultures of this streptococcus produce acute nephritis when in- 

 oculated into lower animals. 



OPHTHALMIA. 



Although various pathogenic bacteria are frequently found in 

 healthy eyes, there can be no doubt that acute and chronic inflamma- 

 tions here, as elsewhere, are commonly due to the presence of micro- 

 organisms. In gonorrhoeal ophthalmia the " gonococcus " of Neisser 

 is the infectious agent. According to Fuchs (1894) a considerable 

 proportion of the cases of so-called Egyptian ophthalmia are due to 

 infection by the gonococcus, while in another group of cases the in- 

 fectious agent is the bacillus of Koch and Kartulis (No. 138). Cer- 

 tain cases are also due to a mixed infection resulting from the pres- 

 ence of both of these pathogenic microorganisms. Demetriades (1894) 

 says that the gonococcus found in cases of Egyptian ophthalmia is 

 much smaller than that encountered in cases of gonorrhoea ; but that 

 it is the same was demonstrated by Kartulis, who introduced pus 

 from the eye of a patient, containing this coccus, into the urethra of 

 a native, who developed a typical gonorrhoea at the end of twenty- 

 four hours as a result of the inoculation. 



Perles (1895) has made numerous inoculation experiments in the 

 eyes of rabbits and reports the following results : Pure cultures of 

 Bacillus subtilis, of the cholera spirillum, and of various non-patho- 

 genic saprophytes, introduced into the anterior chamber or the vit- 

 reous, caused no perceptible changes. Typhoid bacilli introduced 

 into the anterior chamber caused hypopyon and in the vitreous an 

 abscess. Streptococci gave rise to an exudate in the anterior cham- 

 ber and to pus formation in the vitreous. Diphtheria bacilli caused 

 a purulent exudate in the anterior chamber with a moderate kerato- 

 iritis, and abscess formation when introduced into the vitreous. 

 Friedlander's bacillus, in the vitreous, caused a severe panophthal- 

 mitis, which led to rupture of the eyeball at the end of sixteen hours ; 



