302 Wound Infection; Suppuration 



Lubenau* found that cultures of the streptococcus when 

 grown in glucose containing bouillon produced a hemolytic 

 substance streptokolysin not seemingly present in cul- 

 tures grown in ordinary bouillon. Besredkaf found that 

 streptokolysin was produced only by highly virulent cul- 

 tures of the streptococcus and not by saprophytic organ- 

 isms that have been for some time under cultivation in the 

 laboratory. 



LevinJ investigated the subject thoroughly and found 

 that different strains of streptococci produced streptokolysin 

 in very varying quantities, that its production is entirely 

 independent of that virulence, that it is destroyed by heat 

 (37 C. in some days; 55 C. in one-half hour) ; that acidity 

 of the nutrient media hinders its formation, and that it is 

 intimately associated with the bodies of the streptococci 

 by which it is produced, so that in the sediment obtained by 

 filtration or by centrifugation there is nearly one thousand 

 times as much as in the filtered fluid culture. The strepto- 

 kolysin is not destroyed by the death of the bacteria. An- 

 tistreptokolysin is present in antistreptococcus serum. 



Toxic Products. The toxic products of the strepto- 

 coccus are not well known. Cultures from different sources 

 vary greatly in the effects produced by hypodermic or intra- 

 venous injection after filtration through porcelain. Killed 

 cultures produce a much more marked effect than filtered 

 ones, so that the important product must be an endotoxin. 



Simon found that the toxic quality of the bodies of 

 streptococci of different stocks had nothing to do with their 

 virulence. Simon || also found that the toxic products of 

 the streptococcus were diverse and peculiar. The bodies 

 of the cocci contained an intracellular toxin the activity of 

 which was independent of their virulence. This poison is 

 liberated only when the bactericidal activities of the body 

 act upon the cocci. The cocci also excrete a toxic substance 

 whose activity is greater than that of the intracellular toxin, 

 but whose production is subject to great variation and is 

 entirely independent of the intracellular toxin. The toxins 

 and hemolysins are entirely different bodies. 



* "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., 1901, Bd. xxx, Nos. 9 and 10. 



f "Ann. de PInst. Pasteur," 1901, S. 880. 



J " Norb. Med. Ark," 1903, n, No. 15, p. 20. 



"Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., xxxv, No. 3, p. 308, Dec. 18, 1903. 



|| "Centralbl.," Jan. 16, 1904, xxxv, No. 4, p. 350. 



