184 INFLAMMATION AND SUPPURATION 



Lesions in the Human Subject. The following statement 

 may be made with regard to the occurrence of the chief organisms 

 mentioned, in the various suppurative and inflammatory con- 

 ditions in the human subject. The account is, however, by no 

 means exhaustive, as clinical bacteriology has shown that practi- 

 cally every part of the body may be the site of a lesion produced 

 by the pyogenic bacteria. It may also be noted that acute 

 catarrhal conditions of cavities or tubes are in many cases also 

 to be ascribed to their presence. 



The staphylococci are the most common causal agents in 

 localised abscesses, in pustules on the skin, in carbuncles, boils, 



etc., in acute suppurative 

 periostitis, in catarrhs of 

 mucous surfaces, in ulcer- 

 ative endocarditis, and in 

 various pysemic conditions. 

 They may also be present 

 in septicaemia. 



Streptococci are especi- 

 ally found in spreading 

 inflammation with or with- 

 out suppuration ; in diffuse 



1B^ %j$j phlegmonous and erysi- 



pelatous conditions, sup- 

 purations in serous mem- 

 branes and in joints (Fig. 

 58). They also occur in 



PIG. 58.-Streptococci in acute suppuration. aCUte suppurative. perio- 



Corrosive film ; stained by Gram's method stltis and ulcerative en- 



and safranin. x 1000. docarditis. Secondary 



abscesses in lymphatic 



glands and lymphangitis are also, we believe, more frequently 

 caused by streptococci than staphylococci. They also produce 

 nbrinous exudation on the mucous surfaces, leading to the 

 formation of false membrane in many of the cases of non- 

 diphtheritic inflammation of the throat, which are met with in 

 scarlatina l and other conditions, and they are also the organisms 

 most frequently present in acute catarrhal inflammations in this 

 situation. In puerperal peritonitis they are frequently found in 

 a condition of purity, and they also appear to be the most 

 frequent cause of puerperal septicaemia, in which condition they 

 may be found after death in the capillaries of various organs. 



1 True diphtheria may also occasionally be associated with this disease, 

 usually as a sequel. 



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