CHAPTER XXV 



BOEDET-GENGOU BACILLUS, WHOOPING COUGH AND MORAX-AXEN- 

 FELD BACILLUS, ZUE NEDDEN'S BACILLUS, DUCREY BACILLUS 



BORDET-GENGOU BACILLUS 



("Microbe de la Coqueluche," Pertussis bacillus, Bacillus of whooping- 

 cough.) 



WHOOPING cough is endemic in most cold countries and, on 

 occasion, in schools, infant asylums and other places where children 

 are crowded, may assume epidemic proportions. Occasional cases 

 may occur in adults, though they are rare. The disease seems to 

 occur sporadically all through the year in large centers, but is 

 more common during the winter. According to Rosenau 1 suscep- 

 tibility is pretty general and he states that the disease causes at least 

 10,000 deaths a year in the United States. Indeed, Eosenau who 

 has analyzed the statistics for the United States for the year 1910, 

 states that whooping cough caused almost as many deaths as scarlet 

 fever. It is the pulmonary complications that follow on the initial 

 infection, however, which, in this disease, are responsible for the 

 deaths and it is the subacute and chronic inflammations of the lung 

 which lead to prolonged illness and .pave the way for tuberculosis 

 and other secondary infections. For sanitary purposes, an arbitrary 

 incubation time of about two weeks has been regarded as probably 

 nearest the facts. During the incubation time, the infectiousness 

 does not seem to be great, the most contagious period being the 

 first few days of the actual disease when the Bordet-Gengou bacilli 

 are brought up in large numbers. It is at this time only that pure 

 cultures of the organisms can be obtained. Very soon after the 

 onset, influenza bacilli and other secondary invaders are found. 

 Transmission is probably by direct and indirect contact as in other 



1 Rosevau, Preventive Medicine and Hygiene, D. Appieton and Co., New York, 

 1921. 



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