CHAPTER XI 

 ACUTE CONTAGIOUS CONJUNCTIVITIS 



The Koch-Weeks Bacillus 



General Characteristics. — A minute, slender bacillus, non-motile, non-flagel- 

 lated, non-sporogenous, non-liquefying, non-chromogenic, aerobic, and optionally 

 anaerobic, staining by the ordinary methods but not by Gram's method, sus- 

 ceptible of cultivation upon special media only, and specific for acute contagious 

 conjunctivitis. 



Acute contagious conjunctivitis is a common and world-wide 

 affection, sometimes called "pink eye," and sometimes erroneously 

 called catarrhal conjunctivitis. All its characteristics, and es- 

 pecially its contagiousness, point to its being a specific disease due 

 to a specific cause, and thus entirely different from ordinary non- 

 specific catarrh. 



Specific Micro-organism. — The first bacteriologic investigation 

 of acute contagious conjunctivitis was made by Robert Koch,* 

 when in Egypt investigating a cholera epidemic. While in Alex- 

 andria he examined the secretions from 50 cases of conjunctivitis, 

 finding the gonococcus, or an organism closely resembUng it. In a 

 less severe form of the disease, however, he found a peculiar small 

 bacillus. He seemed satisfied with this observation, or had no time 

 to pursue the matter farther, for no cultivation or other experiments 

 are mentioned. 



The organism was observed from time to time, but no serious 

 consideration seems to have been devoted to it until Weeks f pub- 

 lished an account of what seemed to be the identical organism, which 

 he not only observed, but also cultivated, and eventually success- 

 fully inoculated into the human conjunctiva. In the same year 

 Kartulist in Alexandria succeeded in cultivating the same organ- 

 ism. In 1894 Morax published a brochure in Paris in which he 

 says that " the disease [which he describes under the name of acute 

 conjunctivitis] is characterized by the constant presence in the 

 conjunctival secretions of a small bacillus seen for the first time by 

 Koch, but studied some years later by Weeks, and now known as 

 the bacillus of Weeks." 



Further descriptive and clinical information can be found in a 

 paper by Weeks, "The Status of our Knowledge of the ^Etiological 

 Factor in Acute Contagious Conjunctivitis." § 



* "Wiener klin. Wochenschrift," 1883, p. 1550. 

 t "N. Y. Med. Record," May 21, rSS?. 

 t "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," 1887, p. 289. 



§"New York Eye and Ear Infirmary Reports," Jan., 1895, vol. iii, Part i, 

 ?• 24. 



423 



