610 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



PYOSALPINX. 



The researches of Zweifel (1892) show that a certain proportion of 

 the cases of pyosalpinx are due to the presence of the gonococcus; in 

 other cases the infectious agent is Streptococcus pyogenes, and in a 

 few cases the micrococcus of pneumonia has been found in pus from 

 the tubes removed by operation. In seventy-one cases of pyosalpinx 

 or of salpingo-oophoritis, which were examined by Zweifel after oper- 

 ation, the gonococcus was found eight times and streptococci three 

 times, while in one the micrococcus of pneumonia was present. 

 Menge (1892) found gonococci, and no other microorganisms, in 

 three cases. Zweifel believes that in many cases in which the 

 gonococcus is not found it was the infectious agent to which the in- 

 flammation and pus formation was due, but that its presence can 

 only be demonstrated in recent cases, as it soon dies out. 



RELAPSING FEVER. 



Due to infection by Spirillum Obermeieri (No. 191). 



RHEUMATIC FEVER. 



The symptoms and complications of acute rheumatism indicate 

 that it is an infectious disease, and the researches of bacteriologists 

 give some support to this view. Singer (1895) in seventeen cases 

 investigated found Staphylococcus pyogenes albus in the urine in 

 ten, and in two cases in the blood; in three cases Streptococcus pyo- 

 genes was found in the urine alone and in two cases in association 

 with Staphylococcus pyogenes albus; in one case Staphylococcus 

 pyogenes aureus was obtained from the urine, and in one, compli- 

 cated with cystitis, Bacillus coli communis. According to Singer the 

 microorganisms found were in large numbers during the acute stage 

 of the disease and disappeared when convalescence was established. 



On the contrary, Chvostek (1895) failed to find microorganisms 

 in the urine in nine out of twelve cases examined by him; in three 

 cases he obtained micrococci Staphylococcus pyogenes albus in one, 

 Diplococcus ureas in one, and an undetermined coccus in one. The 

 same author reports that in numerous examinations of the contents 

 of the inflamed joints, both in acute and chronic cases, he failed to 

 find bacteria of any kind. Sahli (1892) refers to the uniformly nega- 

 tive results obtained by different bacteriologists who have made cul- 

 tures from fluid obtained from the inflamed joints, and reports a fatal 

 case in which he also failed to obtain cultures from the fluid in the 

 affected joints, but in which Staphylococcus pyogenes citreus was 

 obtained in cultures from the blood, the sy no vial membrane of the 



