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43
Widal (typhoid) reaction* obtained 18
No result 6
Total number of specimens (blood from typhoid
fever cases) forwarded 24
There were also sent three swabbings from doubtful convalescent
cases of diphtheria, but no bacilli were found.
The relation between the pseudo-diphtheritic bacillus of Hofman
and the virulent Klebs-Loffler bacillus is a difficult and vexed question
and is not clearly understood. Some authorities state that there is
no doubt that the diphtheria bacillus may assume the form of the
pseudo-bacillus. It is also contended that under certain circumstances
the pseudo diphtheria bacillus apparently becomes transformed into
the virulent Klebs-Loffler bacillus. Examinations of throats have
revealed the virulent form present upon the first test, the pseudo
upon the second and the virulent again upon the third. So far as
notification of cases is concerned, where the pseudo bacillus is found
immediately the patients come under treatment, this matter must
be left to the experience of the medical attendant to decide in individual
cases, and further bacteriological examinations might be made.
There can be no doubt that in the presence of an outbreak of
diphtheria the pseudo bacillus should always be looked upon with
suspicion, as otherwise a very tedious process of experimentation on
animals would have to be gone through in each case, more especially
as the pseudo and the virulent bacilli may exist together and the
latter escape observation. On the whole a person who has had throat
symptoms and in whom the pseudo bacillus is found, should not
be permitted to mix with other individuals until the throat is clear.
"Note.—The re-action depends on the fact that the specific (Eberth-Gaffky)
bacilli of typhoid fever lose their power of movement, and become collected in
clumps (or agglutinated as it is called) in fluids containing the specific antitoxin
of the disease, and this antitoxin is developed in the blood of all patients suffering
from typhoid very shortly after the invasion of the disease.