The pathology of influenzaWinternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Science
The pathology of influenza
Winternitz, M. C. (Milton C.)
Influenza
It is remarkable how long this picture in the trachea and bronchi may
persist without showing any marked variation. It is encountered, not
only in the most acute and fulminating types of the disease (that have
been examined), but a similar picture may be present in cases which end
fatally only after a period of weeks of severe illness. In the latter
cases, however, the exudate, particularly in the bronchioles, assumes a
more purulent character and after this accumulation is wiped away from
the surface of the tube, the intensity of the dark red color of its
lining membrane presents an even more striking contrast on account of
the opaque, yellowish-green exudate in the lumen. At this stage, too,
the bronchioles are more distended with pus, which oozes from each one
when the lung is sectioned (1, 108, 110). In the cases still more
chronic, the terminal bronchioles may be sharply outlined with a thick
grey wall which surrounds the dilated opening from which the accumulated
yellowish exudate oozes as soon as the pressure is relieved (Figs. XXXIX
and XL).
_Histological Picture._
The changes are less marked, perhaps, in the trachea than in its finer
ramifications. The mucosa is constantly more or less destroyed and large
areas, usually focal, are entirely devoid of their epithelial covering.
This is replaced by a sparse exudate, composed largely of red blood
cells, mucus, a small amount of fibrin, and nuclear fragments (Fig. II).
It may dip into the submucosa for a short distance, but usually these
indentures are associated with the ducts of the mucous glands into which
the inflammatory reaction extends. A more striking feature than the
exudate, however, is the edema and the congestion of the submucosa. The
loose areolar tissue of the submucosa is spread widely apart, and
throughout it distended blood vessels are very conspicuous. Occasionally
such a vessel is broken and actual hemorrhage appears in the submucosa.
Occasionally, too, the inflammation extends down the duct to the mucous
gland itself, and here, also, aplastic inflammatory reaction is evident,
inasmuch as the acini now stain intensely red with the cells
undifferentiated from each other and specked here and there by broken
remains of the dead nuclei (Fig. III). After the disease has continued
for a short period, even at the end of five or six days, some
regeneration of the epithelial lining may be seen (3) (Fig. IV). But
despite this, the acute picture persists, and there goes on, side by
side, an attempted repair characterized by epithelial regeneration and
the same evidence of acute change. Since the lesion is essentially a
superficial one, scars or contractures of any extent are not encountered
in the trachea, even in examples of the disease that have ended fatally
only after many weeks.[4]
[Illustration:
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