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404 CHOLERA, 



regulatory mechanisms are specially involved. In some, 

 though rare, cases known as cholera sicca, general collapse 

 occurs with remarkable suddenness, and is rapidly followed 

 by a fatal result, whilst there is little or no evacuation from 

 the bowel, though post mortem the intestine is distended 

 with fluid contents. As the characteristic organisms in 

 cholera are found only in the intestine, the general dis- 

 turbances are to be regarded as the result of toxic sub- 

 stances absorbed from the bowel. It is also to be noted 

 that cholera is a disease of which the onset and course are 

 - ^ much more rapid 



> V ^^jlju - tnan i g tne case 



in most infective 

 diseases, such as 

 typhoid and diph- 

 theria; and that 

 recovery also, when 

 it takes place, does 

 so more quickly. 

 The two factors to 

 be co-related to 

 these facts are (a) a 

 rapid multiplication 

 of organisms, (fr) the 

 production of rapidly 



10.104. Cholera spirilla, from a culture . . 



on agar of twenty-four hours' growth. acting tOXines. 



Stained with weak carbol-fuchsin. x 1000. The Cholera Spiril- 

 lum. Microscopical 



Characters. The cholera spirilla as found in the 

 intestines in cholera are small organisms measuring 

 about 1.5 to 2 p in length, and rather less than .5 

 in thickness. They are distinctly curved in one direc- 

 tion, hence the appearance of a comma (Fig. 104); most 

 occur singly, but some are attached in pairs and curved 

 in opposite directions, so that an S-shape results. Longer 

 forms are rarely seen in the intestine, but in cultures in 

 fluids, as is especially well seen in hanging-drop prepara- 

 tions, they may grow into longer spiral filaments, showing 



