Remarks upon the pneumotoxin / by Allan MacFadyen, M.D. (from the Bacteriological Department, King's College.).

  • Macfayden, Allan, 1860-1907
Date:
[1906?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Remarks upon the pneumotoxin / by Allan MacFadyen, M.D. (from the Bacteriological Department, King's College.). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from the British Medical Journal, September 29th, 1909. REMARKS UPON THE PNEUMOTOXIN. By ALLAN MACFADYEN, M.D. (From the Bacteriological Department, King’s College.) The pneumococcus is an important agent in the produc¬ tion of disease in the human subject. It is the most frequent cause of acute lobar pneumonia, having been found in about 80 to 90 per cent, of the cases examined. The organism likewise invades the pleura and the blood, and appears in the bile, urine, milk, etc., whilst pneumococcal infections outside the respiratory tract are constantly met with—for example, in meningitis, peri¬ tonitis, pericarditis, endocarditis, otitis, conjunctivitis, etc. The organism is also one of the exciting causes in the forms of acute catarrh clinically grouped as “ influenza.” The pneumococci, in the variety of morbid conditions they are capable of producing, resemble a kindred group of micro-organisms—the streptococci. The virulence of the pneumococcus is subject to wide variations. The most virulent forms are met with in acute inflammatory processes, and the virulence may be preserved and increased by passages through susceptible animals. The strains of pronounced virulence lead on injection to a fatal septicaemia in one to three days, those of feeble virulence simply to local lesions. In experi¬ mental work upon the pneumococcus it is essential to use cultures of undoubted and tested virulence. Whilst acute pneumococcal infections are accompanied by symptoms of a severe toxaemia, little of a definite character is known with regard to the specific poison of the pneumococcus. The attempts that have been made to obtain a soluble poison from cultures of the organism have not led to encouraging results. The toxic properties of filtered cultures are feeble, and large amounts are required to produce any morbid effect. The specific nature of the soluble poisons that have been described still remains a matter of doubt. G. and F. Klemperer,1 in the course of a careful experi¬ mental inquiry, employed a variety of methods and of material. The toxins obtained were not of a very potent nature, as doses up to 24 c.cm. were necessary to produce a lethal effect in rabbits. These observers regarded such