The pathology of influenzaWinternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Science
The pathology of influenza
Winternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Influenza
Sections from the left lower lobe and from the right lung showed
both necrotization and organization. The alveoli contained an
exudate, fibrinous, serous, and hemorrhagic, but predominantly
leucocytic. There was slight necrotization of alveolar walls in some
areas with infiltration of leucocytes in them and in the
interstitial tissue. Several sections showed a marked degree of
interstitial organization (Fig. XLVI). The bronchi were filled with
a purulent exudate which sometimes involved the walls to form a
peribronchial abscess. The walls of other bronchi showed great
thickening with infiltration of both mononuclear cells and
leucocytes, and many saccular dilatations were found (Fig. XII).
The post-mortem blood culture showed a small, gram-negative,
hemoglobinophilic bacillus (B. influenzæ). Cultures from lungs and
bronchi yielded hemolytic streptococci, and Staphylococcus aureus
was also present in the lung.
_Summary._
Of the ninety-five cases included in this report, twelve showed the
reparative process in a more or less marked degree. Furthermore, the
twelve showing organization had an illness averaging twenty-seven days
in duration, whereas for the eighty-three cases in which there was no
organization, the period of illness averaged nine days. Thus, it appears
that the early fatal termination of the disease in the latter group is
responsible for the absence of organization.
With one exception, when organization was encountered, the disease had
run a relatively acute course without marked remission until death. In
this instance, the fatal outcome was the result of an accident at a time
when all the clinical evidence pointed toward a subsidence of the acute
disease. The history of this patient is abstracted below, for it may
throw light upon possible relapse and upon late, chronic, respiratory
changes.
_Autopsy No. 163._
A white male, aged 35 years, was admitted to the New Haven Hospital
on December 5, 1918, complaining of “cough, pain in the chest, and
headache.” For six days he had had fever, chills, and severe frontal
headache, and for three days pains in the chest. He had also had
“coryza” and epistaxis. The family and past histories were
unimportant.
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