View report page

86
Quite recently it has been found helpful in very grave
case of diphtheria to give continuous intravenous drip saline
with 5 per cent dextrose by means of the apparatus known as
i'ne Vacoliter. This form of medication has been used in the
Hendon Isolation Hospital during a time when cases of the
utmost gravity were being admitted, with very encouraging
results.
CROSS-TYPE INFECTION IN DIPHTHERIA.
Diphtheria organisms, like the streptococci isolated from
the mucous membrane of throat and nose in cases of scarlet
fever, are of different types, although at present only three
types are recognised.
Influenced by the investigations of the various workers on
streptococci, two bacteriologists at the University of Liverpool
(Glass and Wright) carried out an investigation on material
obtained from the diphtheria wards at the Pazakerley Hospital
with a view to ascertaining if there was transference of types
in diphtheria wards such as had been demonstrated in scarlet
fever wards. Their findings are of considerable importance,
for they suggest that not only is there transference of type
but this transference tended to rise steeply with prolongation
of stay in hospital. Moreover, non-virulent strains of one
type changed to virulent strains of another type, and cases
which showed no diphtheria organisms on admission to
hospital were found subsequently to harbour such organisms.
A still more interesting finding was that cases which had
been detained in hospital for prolonged periods because of
persistence of positive swabs were, in the main, cases which
showed a different type of organism from that found on
admission.
A still further finding was that cases were found on return
from hospital to have infected other members of the family
with a different type of organism from that which had caused
their being sent to hospital, although discharge from hospital
had been preceded by negative bactcriological findings.