612 BACTERIA IN INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



RHINOSCLEROMA. 



This appears to be a localized infectious process, due to the presence of the 

 Bacillus of rhinoscleroma (No. 58). 



SCARLET FEVER. 



The specific infectious agent in scarlet fever has not been demonstrated. 

 In the diphtheritic exudate frequently seen in the angina of scarlet fever a 

 streptococcus is commonly found which appears to be identical with Strep- 

 tococcus pyogenes; and in the secondary affections which occur in the 

 course of this disease or during convalescence, when suppuration occurs, one 

 or the other of the common pyogenic micrococci is usually found and is 

 doubtless the cause of the local inflammatory process. (See Otitis media.) 



Crajkowski (1895) has reported that he found in fifteen cases, in which he 

 examined the blood of scarlet fever patients, a diplococcus present in com- 

 paratively small numbers seldom more than one or two in a microscopic 

 field. This diplococcus does not stain by Gram's method and in general stains 

 feebly and quickly loses its color. Cultures were obtained in bouillon and 

 upon solid media (in the incubating oven ?), but not in gelatin. The develop- 

 ment is said to be slow, and the colonies resemble small drops of dew not 

 more than one-third to one-half of a millimetre in diameter. Pathogenic for 

 mice, but not for rabbits. Crajkowski does not claim that the etiologk-al 

 relation of this diplococcus to scarlet fever has been demonstrated. His dried 

 blood preparations were stained by the method of Chencinsky. 



SCORBUTIS. 



In an epidemic of scurvy in a cavalry regiment Babes (1894) found in 

 every case, in the necrotic margin of the mucous membrane of the gums, a 

 slender, pointed, and bent bacillus, resembling the tubercle bacillus ; this did 

 not stain by Gram's method. This bacillus grew in nutrient agar at 37 C., 

 and the cultures injected into rabbits caused a hemorrhagic septicaemia and 

 death. 



SEPTICAEMIA. 



Septicaemia in man is usually due to infection, through a wound 

 or mucous membrane denuded of its epithelium, by a virulent variety 

 of one of the common pus cocci Streptococcus pyogenes (No. 5), or 

 Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus (No. 1). Canon (1894) has reported 

 the results of his bacteriological researches in seventy cases of "septi- 

 caemia, pyaemia, and osteomyelitis." He divides his cases into three 

 groups. In the first group ('20) microorganisms were present in the 

 blood without metastases, in the second (20) microorganisms were 

 present and metastatic foci of infection were found; in the third 

 group there were metastatic foci but no microorganisms were found 

 in the blood. In the first group of cases, in blood obtained post 

 mortem from a vein in the arm, streptococci were found in a ma- 

 jority of the cases, staphylococci in a smaller number, the pneumonia 

 coccus in one, and Bacillus coli communis in one. In this group the 

 blood was examined in seven cases during life and in three of them 

 with a positive result. In eleven cases of various origin, in which 



