The pathology of influenzaWinternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Science
The pathology of influenza
Winternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Influenza
The autopsy was held four hours after death. The body was markedly
emaciated. The peritoneal cavity and its contents appeared normal,
though the liver was low. The right pleural cavity contained 150
c.c. of slightly cloudy, yellow fluid. The left was free from fluid.
Both lungs were bound to the chest wall by silvery grey, translucent
adhesions which were broken with slight difficulty. The right lung
was heavy, voluminous, retained its shape on removal, and was
consolidated throughout. Thick, creamy pus exuded from the cut
trachea. For the most part, the lung was covered by a recently
organized exudate several millimeters thick in which delicate blood
vessels could sometimes be made out. Beneath the pleura of the lower
three-fourths of the lung, were numerous, irregularly rounded,
slightly elevated, opaque, greenish-yellow areas resembling
conglomerate tubercles. These gave the lung a shotty or nodular
feeling. In the lowest lobe several of these areas had fused and
softened to form semifluctuant areas several centimeters in
diameter. On section the lower two-thirds of the lung was studded
with areas corresponding to those seen on the surface, which in many
instances had broken down and formed irregular cavities filled by
thick, green pus (Fig. LI). Between the green areas delicate strands
of new-formed fibrous tissue could be made out in all parts of the
lung. The bronchial mucosa was injected, the walls were irregularly
thickened and dilated and they opened into the ragged cavities noted
above. New-formed fibrous tissue was prominent along the bronchi.
One chalky white, old, encapsulated, tuberculous focus was found
near the apex of the left lung.
Microscopically, there were two distinct processes found in the
sections taken from various parts of the lung: an early miliary and
exudative tuberculosis, and a necrotizing and organizing
bronchopneumonia. Often the two processes were side by side, but
sharply demarcated, in the same section. In others, they might be so
intermingled that they could not be differentiated. The bronchi were
filled with pus and often could be seen opening into large abscess
cavities. The proliferation of the bronchial epithelium, as noted
elsewhere, also was a striking feature in these sections. The
pleural exudate was undergoing organization.
Streptococcus hemolyticus was found in the cultures of the lung,
blood, pleural fluid, and bronchi. In addition, the bronchi and
abscess cavities also showed Type IV pneumococcus and Staphylococcus
albus.
_Summary._
In this series of ninety-five cases, two examples of activation of an
old tuberculous focus by the acute respiratory process were encountered.
In both the pulmonary tubercular process was acute and played an
important rôle in the fatal outcome.
III. EXTRARESPIRATORY LESIONS IN INFLUENZA
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