BACILLI OF THE COLON-TYPHOID-DYSENTERY GROUP 715 



tact epidemic in Metz. Martha Wollstein 40 found typical dysentery 

 bacilli at autopsy in the intestines of children who had presented none 

 of the symptoms of dysentery before death, and similar isolations were 

 made by Duval and Shorer 41 in connection with epidemics of summer 

 diarrhea. Shiga claims that in every dysentery epidemic a great many 

 contact cases can be traced epidemiologically. His belief is that it is 

 contact which keeps the disease going almost entirely during the inter- 

 epidemic periods in Japan, and that this is largely due to the carrier 

 condition in healthy people, mild sporadic cases which clinically are 

 diarrheal, and convalescents of typical dysentery cases. Water, he 

 thinks, can play a part, but in his accounts of water epidemics this 

 implies rather gross carelessness in the care of water. It was sug- 

 gested during recent epidemics in the British Army that dried feces 

 carried about by dust in sand storms may have contributed to the 

 spread of epidemics. 



Whether or not domestic animals may act as carriers is not cer- 

 tain, but it has been suggested that dogs may be spontaneously infected 

 with bacillary dysentery and transmit the disease to human beings. 



Castellani mentions that Kruse and Bowman 42 have reported spon- 

 taneous bacillary dysentery in monkeys in which Flexner bacilli were 

 isolated, and Messerschmidt 43 found "Y" bacilli in the feces of 

 healthy rabbits. Indirect transmission by means of food is of course, 

 to be expected. A small epidemic occurring in a hospital in New York 

 city and caused by the bacillus "Y, " was indirectly traced to milk by 

 ourselves. 44 



The length of time during which the bacilli may live in the soil 

 has been mentioned as a source of danger by a number of writers, 

 and Vincent and Muratet mention a case which seems to us of 

 considerable importance in dealing with army epidemics, since it- 

 indicates the danger of bringing new troops to old camping grounds 

 cither in the course of advances over enemy territory or in the 

 periodical use of cantonments. They state that dysentery had been 

 common at the Chalons Military Camp in 1889. A year later, troops 

 coming to this camp pitched their tents and ditched them over the 



"Wollsiein, Martha, Stud, from the Rock. Inst., 2, 1904. 



41 Dtirnl :md Shorer , Stud, from the Rock. Inst., 2, 1934. 



42 Kriise and Bowman, cited from Castellani and Chalmers, loc. cit. 

 4:< Mesxerschmidt, cited from Lentz, loc: cit. 



44 Zinsser, Proc. N. Y. Path. Soc., 1907, 



