132 ERYSIPELAS. 



in which after an accidental or intentional attack of erysipelas the 

 malignant tumor commenced to grow rapidly, Neelsen ("Rapide 

 Wucherung nnd Ausbreitung eines Mammacarcinoms nach zwei 

 schweren Erysipel-Anfallen von 15 resp. 10 tagiger Dauer," 

 Centralblatt f. Chirurgie, 1884, p. 729) describes a case of carci- 

 noma of the breast, in which after two severe attacks of erysipelas 

 the tumor not only commenced to grow faster, but at the same time 

 regional infection progressed also more rapidly. 



Babtchinsky (Bulletin Medical, 1890) made the accidental dis- 

 covery that the microbe of erysipelas is a direct antagonist to the 

 virus of diphtheria. His son, while suffering from a most severe 

 case of diphtheria, was suddenly attacked by erysipelas. This 

 complication, grave of itself, seemed to hasten the fatal termination 

 of the case, and during the first few hours of the eruption the 

 patient was much worse. But the next day the symptoms had 

 much improved, and the patient made a rapid recovery. Follow- 

 ing this indication, Babtchinsky inoculated a second case of diph- 

 theria with a culture of the microbe of erysipelas grown on agar- 

 agar, and with an equally happy result. Since this time, of four- 

 teen cases of diphtheria treated with these inoculations, twelve 

 resulted in recovery, and as in the two cases resulting fatally the 

 inoculation produced no effect, these negative results only tend 

 to confirm the efficacy of the curative inoculations. It is remarkable 

 that in all the cases where erysipelas was produced artificially this 

 disease pursued a mild course, and the patients recovered rapidly 

 from both diseases. 



Schwimmer (" Ueber dem Heilwerth des Erysipels bei verschie- 

 denen Krankheitsformen." Wiener med. Presse, No. 15, 16, 1888) 

 gives an account of 11 cases of lupus, in all of which no improve- 

 ment was observed after an intercurrent attack of erysipelas. In 

 a case of keloid an attack of erysipelas was folio wed by marked 

 improvement, and in a case of lipoma a similarly favorable effect 

 was observed. Syphilitic lesions he saw temporarily improved, 

 while the erysipelas had no effect in permanently influencing the 

 course of the disease. 



Bruus (Monatschrift /. prakt. Derm., B. viii., No. 4) gives an 

 account of the effect of erysipelas on tumors in 22 patients. 

 Amongst these, three cases of sarcoma were permanently cured. 

 Two cases of multiple keloid after burns were also cured. In four 

 cases of lymphoma of the neck some of the glands disappeared and 

 some became smaller. In five cases the erysipelas was artificially 

 produced by inoculation with a pure culture. In three cases of 

 carcinoma of the mamma one was not changed, one became one-half 

 smaller, and one was reduced to a small induration in the scar the 



