CHAPTER L 



THE MICROBE OP CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER 



THIS disease, as implied by the name, is a fever 

 which, affects the brain and the spinal column. 

 The microbe which causes it in some way enters 

 the circulation, finds its way to the membranes 

 covering the brain and the spinal cord. Here it 

 finds its natural food. Here it grows. Here it 

 quickly multiplies into a multitude of infinitely 

 small beings. By their life processes these beings 

 generate the fever poison. This poison enters the 

 circulation, permeates the entire system, and does 

 its terrible work. 



The onset of the disease is sudden and sharp. 

 The poison at once inflames the membranes of the 

 brain and spine. These are known as meningen 

 membranes; hence their inflammation is cerebro- 

 spinal meningitis. With this come chills, high 

 temperature, quick pulse, headache, vomiting and 

 delirium. 



The disease is as fatal as it is violent. In its 

 milder form, two out of every ten die; in its 

 severer form, seventy out of every hundred. In- 

 cluding inflammation of the brain which is an- 

 other species of this disease about 30,000 die of 

 it in the United States every year. 



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