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PYOGENIC DERMAL INFECTIONS 



more itching than pain. The proximal lymphatic glands may be 

 enlarged. Several such sores may be present at the same time. 

 The hands,' forearms, feet, and legs are mostly affected. Harman 

 has seen as many as twenty such sores on one man. The duration 

 of the affection varies between one and three months, but occasion- 

 ally may last as long as six months. 



Treatment. — The correct treatment is by vaccines, either auto- 

 genous or from a locally prepared stock. The local treatment con- 

 sists in keeping the sores dressed with antiseptic lotions, such as 

 perchloride of mercury (i in 4,000), or in washing the sores with a 

 disinfecting lotion, and then applying an antiseptic powder, paste, 

 or ointment, such as europhen (i to 3 per cent.), iodoform (i to 3 per 

 cent.), protargol (5 to 10 per cent.), or calomel (5 to 10 per cent.). 



Barcoo Rot. 



For the reasons given above we consider Barcoo rot to be a 

 condition identical with dermatitis veldis. It must, however, be 

 admitted that the descriptions given by some authors may include 

 other conditions. For example. Black described it as forming a 

 crust which becomes larger, thicker, and harder until horny in 

 consistence and difficult to remove. There is very little itching or 

 pain. 



Pain states that the term ' Barcoo rot ' is very loosely applied. According 

 to him the original ' Barcoo rot ' was scurvy. Owing to the improved 

 conditions of living scurvy disappeared, and the younger Bushmen applied 

 the name to any superficial obstinate sore. Two conditions at least are 

 now covered by the term: a seasonal staphylococcal infection, occurring 

 generally in the autumn, and a deep-seated trichophytosis of the hands. 



Dermatitis Pratensis. 



Definition. — Dermatitis pratensis is a primary streptococcal der- 

 matitis characterized by starting as a papule spreading by ulceration, 

 and forming in late stages acanthotic papillary formations. 



Historical. — The disease has been studied by Castellani in Equa- 

 torial Africa and by Chalmers and Archibald in the Anglo-Egyptian 

 Sudan. We give it the name dermatitis pratensis to bring it into 

 line with the other dermatites. 



etiology. — The causative organism is a streptococcus which can 

 be found in the polymorphonuclear leucocytes, in the lesions, and 

 can easily be grown in pure culture. In some cases in the Anglo- 

 Egyptian Sudan the organism obtained was Streptococcus versatilis 

 Broadhurst, 1915, which is a normal denizen of equine faeces, from 

 which the infection probably comes. Its causal relationship depends 

 upon not merely its presence in cases of the disease, but upon the 

 fact that vaccines prepared from it will quickly cure not merely the 

 person from whom the growth was obtained, but other patients also. 



Pathological Histology. — When sections are made along a papillo- 

 matous projection of the acanthotic variety it will be seen that the 

 outer covering is epidermal in nature, and that, superficially, it is 



