602 



Malignant Edema 



be permitted to remain undisturbed for some time after 



death, the bacilli spread to the circulatory system and reach 



all the organs. 



Brieger and Ehrlich* have reported two cases of malignant 



edema in man. Both occurred in typhoid fever patients 



subcutaneously injected with 

 musk, the infection no doubt 

 resulting from impurities in the 

 therapeutic agent. 



GrigorjefT and Ukkef have ob- 

 served another interesting case 

 of typhoid fever with intestinal 

 ulcerations, through which in- 

 fection by the bacillus of malig- 

 nant edema took place. The 

 case was characterized by inter- 

 stitial emphysema of the subcu- 

 taneous tissue of the neck and 

 breast, gas bubbles in the mus- 

 cles, and a transformation of the 

 entire liver into a spongy, por- 

 ous mass of a gray-brown color. 

 The spleen was enlarged and 

 soft, and contained a few gas 

 bubbles. Though the writers 

 consider this organism to be the 

 bacillus of malignant edema, the 

 general impression one receives 

 from the description of the lesions 

 suggests that it was Welch's Ba- 

 cillus aerogenes capsulatus. 



No case is reported in which 

 healthy men have been infected 

 with malignant edema. 



Immunity. Cornevin found 

 that the passage of the bacillus 



through white rats diminished its virulence, and that the 

 animals of various species that recovered were immune 

 against the virulent organisms. 



*" Berliner klin. Wochenschrift," 1882, No. 44. 

 t " Militar-medizin. Jour.," 1898, p. 323. 



Fig. 177. Bacillus of ma- 

 lignant edema growing in 

 glucose gelatin (Frankel and 

 Pfeiffer). 



