BACTERIUM INFLUENZA 117 



MICROCOCCUS MELITENSIS. 



Malta fever is an acute infectious septicemic disease, 

 endemic along the Mediterranean, following a course similar 

 to typhoid fever, but usually of less serious nature. It is 

 caused by the Micrococcus melitensis. Goats harbor the 

 organisms and pass them out through the milk, an important 

 food in Malta. Persons can be infected by introduction 

 through a wound. It is probably not transmitted from man 

 to man. The diagnosis is made by means of blood cultures 

 or by the agglutination test. The bacteria are of rather 

 elongated shape, by some observers taken to indicate that 

 they are bacilli. They are about yyj-oo inch 'long, single or 

 in pairs. No motility is seen, and no spores are formed. They 

 stain easily and grow well in ordinary media at 37 C. or 98 

 F. Monkeys are the only animals which can be artificially 

 infected. Vaccines of dead cultures may be used. The bacilli 

 are killed by the same methods as the typhoid bacillus. 



BACTERIUM INFLUENZA. 



Influenza is also called la grippe or grip, and is an acute 

 catarrhal disease usually involving the mucous membrane of 

 the upper respiratory tract, but also penetrating to the deeper 

 parts. Its causative bacterium is the probable Bacterium 

 influenzcB or the influenza bacillus. The disease is one which 

 appears in epidemic form usually, but sporadic cases also 

 occur. The organisms are carried in the nose and throat and 

 communicated to others in the fine particles coughed or spat 

 out. 1 They lodge on the mucous surfaces and produce an 

 inflammation through which the poisons are absorbed. The 

 rods themselves do not usually enter the blood stream, but 

 they may do so, as is attested by the fact that there are 

 influenzal forms of pleuritis and pericarditis, diseases prob- 

 ably not due to an extension by continuity. Influenzal 

 pneumonia occurs when the bacteria penetrate to the lung 



