BACTERIOLOGY IN A NUTSHELL. 



Preventive 

 Measures. 



Cause of 

 Erysipelas. 



believed to aggravate the spasms. Opiates are 

 sometimes given by rectal injection also. 



The best authorities now recommend open- 

 ing up accidental wounds as quickly as possible 

 after they occur. A thorough irrigation of 

 the wound with an antiseptic solution then 

 follows, such irrigation to be kept up at 

 frequent intervals until all danger of the in- 

 vasion of the bacillus tetani is over. Between 

 the irrigations, the wound is protected by an 

 aseptic dressing held in place by a bandage. 

 Some advocate leaving the wound open to 

 the air after irrigation, claiming that the 

 bacillus tetani will not live in the presence 

 of air. Even more than strict regard must be 

 paid to disinfection and cleansing during the 

 case and at its close. 



Erysipelas^ at one time regarded as an 

 acute inflammation of the skin, is now attrib- 

 uted to the invasion of the system by the strep- 

 tococcus pyogenes* which gains an entrance 

 through wounds, and sometimes through 

 scratches or punctures of the skin so tiny as to 

 be almost imperceptible to the naked eye. The 

 disease is spread by means of small particles 

 of desquamating skin from the affected part 

 floating in the air and by pus from the wound 



*When the streptococcus pyogenes invades the skin we 

 have erysipelas; when it invades the blood, we have 

 septicemia or "sepsis," and other inflammations in which 

 suppuration occurs. 



