292 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



by Blasi and Russo-Travali it was found that in 26 cases 

 of pseudomenibranous angina due to streptococci, staphy- 

 lococci, colon bacilli, and pneumococci, 2 patients died, 

 the mortality being 3.84 per cent. In 102 cases of pure 

 diphtheria 28 died, a mortality of 27.45 per cent. Seventy- 

 six cases showed diphtheria bacilli and staphylococci; of 

 these, 25, or 32.89 per cent, died. Twenty cases showed 

 the diphtheria bacilli and Streptococcus pyogenes, with 6 

 deaths 30 per cent. In 7 cases, of which 3, or 43 per 

 cent., were fatal, the diphtheria bacillus was in com- 

 bination with streptococci and pneumococci. The most 

 dangerous forms met were 3 cases, all fatal, in which the 

 diphtheria bacillus was found in combination with the 

 Bacillus coli. 



It may be well to remark that all pseudomembranous 

 diseases of the throat are not diphtheria, but that some 

 of them, exactly similar in clinical picture, result from 

 the activity of the pyogenic organisms alone, and are 

 neither diphtheria nor contagious. 



Diphtheritic inflammations of the throat are not always 

 accompanied by the formation of the usual pseudomem- 

 brane, it rarely but occasionally happening that in the 

 larynx a rapid inflammatory edema without a fibrinous 

 surface-coating causes a fatal suffocation. Only a bac- 

 teriological examination will reveal the nature of the 

 disease in such cases. 



Herman Biggs, 1 in an interesting discussion of the 

 occurrence of the diphtheria bacillus and its relation to 

 diphtheria, comes to the following conclusions: 



1. " When the diphtheria bacillus is found in healthy 

 throats investigation almost always shows that the indi- 

 viduals have been in contact with cases of diphtheria. 

 The presence of the bacillus in the throat, without any 

 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- 



1 Amer. Jour, of the AffJ. Sciences, Oct., 1896, vol. xxii., No. 4, p. 41 1. 



