﻿IX, B. 3 Musgrave and Sison: Bacillary Dysentery 245 



ism was obtained in the other 3 cases. Two dysentery cases 

 out of 4 from Camp Eldridge, Laguna, yielded Morgan's No. 1 

 bacillus. Of 2 cases examined at Fort William McKinley, Mor- 

 gan's No. 1 bacillus was isolated from one; the other case was 

 subsequently diagnosed as amoebic. 



Of 3 cases studied in Manila, one was negative, the Shiga 

 type of B. dysenterise was isolated from one, and the Flexner 

 type from the third. 



These authors recognize two main groups of dysentery-pro- 

 ducing bacilli, the Shiga type including Kruse's organism and the 

 Flexner type which includes those of Strong and Musgrave and 

 of Gray and Duval. Other organisms which had been considered 

 as probable causative agents at that time were Bowman's 

 Bacillus "S." 



They conclude that: 



Bacillary dysentery is endemic in the Philippine Islands at all times, 

 occasionally assuming epidemic proportions over more or less wide areas. 

 The disease is due to at least three types of dysentery organisms, the well- 

 known Shiga and Flexner types and the less known organism of Morgan. 

 In the region south of Laguna de Bay the Morgan type alone was encoun- 

 tered, and this organism appears to be the predominating cause of the recent 

 epidemic. In and about Manila, where the cases were more scattered and 

 scarcely assumed epidemic proportions, organisms of the Shiga and Flexner 

 types were found. * * * 



It does not appear that the disease caused by one type of dysentery 

 bacillus differs from that caused by another in its clinical course, its 

 pathology, or its gravity, and the treatment is the same for all. The 

 identification of the bacillus type, then, in any given case, does not seem 

 of importance. The diagnosis of this variety of dysentery must still depend 

 upon the clinical course of the disease and the exclusion of amoeba by 

 microscopical examination. 



Whitmore'* studied an epidemic of bacillary dysentery in the 

 Philippine Islands during the summer of 1909. Bacilli, resem- 

 bling those found in dysentery, were isolated from the stools of 

 a number of the patients affected, and the author made a com- 

 parative study of the various strains of the dysentery bacilli. 

 He concluded that they were principally of the Shiga-Kruse 

 type, with a third class less frequently found which includes 

 the "Y" bacillus of Hiss. The Shiga-Kruse type of organism 

 was the only one found in cases studied from the provinces, but 

 the Flexner type was encountered in cases in Manila. The 

 author makes no attempt to associate the type of the bacillus 

 present with the severity or the clinical variety of the disease. 



^This Journal, Sec. B (1911), 6, 215. 



