434 Diphtheria 



lesion, does not, of course, indicate the existence of the 

 disease." 



2. "The simple anginas in which virulent diphtheria 

 bacilli are found are to be regarded from a sanitary stand- 

 point in exactly the same way as the cases of true diph- 

 theria." 



3. "Cases of diphtheria present the ordinary clinical 

 features of diphtheria, and show the Klebs-Loffler bacilli." 



4. "Cases of angina associated with the production of 

 membrane in which no diphtheria bacilli are found might 

 be regarded from a clinical standpoint as diphtheria, but 

 bacteriological examination shows that some other organ- 

 ism than the Klebs-Loffler bacillus is the cause of the pro- 

 cess." 



Any skepticism of the specificity of the diphtheria bacillus 

 on my own part was dispelled by a somewhat unique ex- 

 perience. Without having been previously exposed to 

 diphtheria while experimenting in the laboratory I acciden- 

 tally drew a living virulent culture of the diphtheria bacillus 

 through a pipet into my mouth. Through carelessness no 

 precautions were taken to prevent serious consequences, and 

 two days later my throat was filled with typical pseudo- 

 membrane which private and Health Board bacteriologic 

 examinations showed to contain pure cultures of the Klebs- 

 Loffler bacilli. 



Some have been led to doubt the specificity of the diphtheria 

 bacillus because of the existence of what is called the pseudo- 

 diphtheria bacillus. My conviction has always been that 

 this organism is but an attenuated or non-virulent diphtheria 

 bacillus, but it is commonly believed that the two organ- 

 isms are different, and until some one succeeds in transform- 

 ing one into the other, the matter must remain an opinion. 

 Bomstein* investigated the question and found that though 

 it was possible to modify the activity of virulent bacilli, and 

 bring back the virulence of non-virulent diphtheria bacilli, 

 it was impossible to make the pseudo-diphtheria bacillus 

 virulent. Denny f also found that the morphology of the 

 two organisms was continually different when they were 

 grown upon the same medium for the same length of time, 

 and that the short pseudo-diphtheria bacillus never showed 

 any tendency to develop into the large clubbed forms 



*"Archiv Russes de Path.," etc., Aug. 31, 1902. 

 f American Public Health Association, 1902. 



