BACILLI OF THE COLON-TYPHOID-DYSENTERY GROUP 633 



frequently cause a rapid sinking of the temperature and death with 

 symptoms of violent intoxication within twenty-four to forty-eight 

 hours. Subcutaneous inoculation of moderate doses usually results in 

 nothing more than a localized abscess from which the animals recover. 



In man, a large variety of lesions produced by Bacillus coli have 

 been described. It is a surprising fact that disease should be caused 

 at all, in man, by a microorganism which is so constantly present in 

 large numbers in the intestine and against which, therefore, it is to be 

 expected that a certain amount of immunity should be developed. A 

 number of explanations for this state of affairs have been advanced, 

 none of them entirely satisfactory. It is probable that none of the poi- 

 sonous products of the colon bacillus are absorbed unchanged by the 

 healthy unbroken mucosa and that, therefore, the microorganisms are> 

 strictly speaking, at all times, outside of the body proper. Under these 

 circumstances, no considerable process of immunization would be antici- 

 pated. It is also possible that, whenever an infection with Bacillus coli 

 does occur,the infecting organism is one which has been recently acquired 

 from another host, having no specific adaptation to the infected body. 

 Virulence may possibly be enhanced by inflammatoryfprocesses caused by 

 other organisms. Considering the subject from another point of view, 

 colon-bacillus infection may possibly take place simply because of 

 unusual temporary reduction of the resistance of the host. Whether or 

 not altered cultural conditions in the intestine may lead to marked 

 enhancement in the virulence of the colon bacilli cannot at present be 

 decided. The opinion has been frequently advanced, however, without 

 adequate experimental support. 



Septicemia, due to the colon bacillus, has been described by a large 

 number of observers. It is doubtful, however, whether many of these 

 cases represent an actual primary invasion of the circulation by the 

 bacilli, or whether their entrance was not simply a secondary phe- 

 nomenon occurring during the agonal stages of another condition. A 

 few unquestionable cases, however, have been reported, and there can 

 be no doubt about the occurrence of the condition, although it is prob- 

 ably less frequent than formerly supposed. The writer has observed 

 it on two occasions in cases during the lethal stages of severe systemic 

 disease due to other causes. An extremely interesting group of such 

 cases are those occurring in new-born infants, in which generalized 

 colon-bacillus infection may lead to a fatal condition known as WinckeFs 

 disease or hemorrhagic septicemia. 13 Prominent among disease processes 



13 Kamen, Ziegler '9 Beitr., U, 1896, 



