CHAPTER Vril. 



THE ACUTE CHIEFLY LOCALIZED INFEC- 

 TIONS OF PUS NATURE THE 

 PATHOGENIC COCCI. 



So far the general conditions under which bacteria live, 

 grow, and exert their peculiar forces have been considered, 

 but now a more direct study will be undertaken of individual 

 groups and single species, with the object of learning what 

 the various diseases due to microorganisms are and what 

 relations the germs bear to the clinical disease. 



Perhaps the most frequent condition a nurse has to meet 

 is an abscess or local surgical infection with or without pus. 

 All the technic of hospital work hinges on the fact that organ- 

 isms capable of producing pus are ubiquitous, so that the 

 protection of wounds or of patients of medical cases with 

 their lowered vital resistance is imperative. There is no one 

 germ that always produces local infection or pus, but many 

 bacteria possess this power. Moreover, some bacteria may 

 produce a simple abscess in one case and a violent inflamma- 

 tion of the heart lining in another. This depends in part 

 upon the virulence of the germ and also upon its mode of 

 entry. If pus cocci fall upon a simple cut in the skin of an 

 otherwise healthy person a red dropsical swelling or an 

 abscess may result. Again, if they fall upon a wound made 

 for an abdominal operation, they may penetrate to the inte- 

 rior and cause a peritonitis. Still, again, pus germs may 

 make their entrance in the ways first cited, but cause no 

 trouble at the site of entrance, being carried hence by the 

 blood stream to cause trouble at other places. Any reaction 

 set up by bacteria is called inflammation, and in no other 



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