Memphis Medical Monthly Volume 38 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1917 Excerpt: ...of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee, November 21-2223, 1916. cured in artificial cultures and is visible with the microscope. Like the virus of rabies, which presents itself in two forms, the large negri bodies and the small granules, which pass a Berkfeld filter, the organism is polymorphous, appearing as a large coccus when grown aerobically, and under other conditions of growth becoming smaller and smaller until it can be filtered through porcelain. It is so difficult to culture and to identify as to render useless this method of diagnosis. The organism is found in the brain and cord of the affected individual, in the spinal fluid and on the mucous membrane of the nose, throat and intestines., Healthy persons may become contaminated and convey the infection without taking the disease/ Even in the abortive or mild cases, in whiqh no paralysis occurs, the nose and throat contains the virus. Kissing, coughing and sneezing, spitting and breathing the dried secretions in dust are modes of transmission. House and stable flies may also carry the infected secretions to the lips, to exposed food, etc. Insects have not been proven to transmit the infection, but they are certainly potential carriers. Dogs, cats, pigs and poultry may be probable distributers of the disease. The infection enters the body by way of the nose and throat. There it multiplies and the lymphatics carry it to its site of predeliction--the brain and spinal cord. No other mode of entrance is yet known. The virus resists complete drying and weak chemical solutions. The disease spreads along the routes of ordinary travel and we must consider the human being the usual carrier. Chronic carriers have been positively proven, the organism existing in the nose and throat in one reported instance fo...