The Story of Germ LifeConn, H. W. (Herbert William)
Science
The Story of Germ Life
Conn, H. W. (Herbert William)
Bacteria; Bacteriology
have varying powers of producing disease at different times. Some
species are universal inhabitants of the alimentary canal and are
ordinarily harmless, while under other conditions of unknown
character they invade the tissues and give rise to a serious and
perhaps fatal disease. We may thus recognise some bacteria which
may be compared to foreign invaders, while others are domestic
enemies. The former, like the typhoid bacillus, always produce
trouble when they succeed in entering the body and finding a
foothold. The latter, like the normal intestinal bacilli, are
always present but commonly harmless, only under special
conditions becoming troublesome. All this shows that there are
other factors in determining the course of a disease, or even the
existence of a disease, than the simple presence of a peculiar
species of pathogenic bacterium.
From the facts just stated it will be evident that any list of
germ diseases will be rather uncertain. Still, the studies of the
last twenty years or more have disclosed some definite relations
of bacteria and disease, and a list of the diseases more or less
definitely associated with distinct species of bacteria is of
interest. Such a list, including only well-known diseases, is as
follows:
Name of disease. Name of bacterium producing the disease.
Anthrax (Malignant pustule). Bacillus anthracis.
Cholera. Spirillum cholera: asiaticae
Croupous pneumonia. Micrococcus pneumonia crouposa.
Diphtheria. Bacillus diphtheria.
Glanders. Bacillus mallei.
Gonorrhoea. Micrococcus gonorrhaeae
Influenza. Bacillus of influenza.
Leprosy. Bacillus leprae.
Relapsing fever. Spirillum Obermeieri.
Tetanus (lockjaw). Bacillus tetani.
Tuberculosis (including
consumption, scrofula, etc.) Bacillus tuberculosis.
Typhoid fever. Bacillus typhi abdominalis.
Various wound infections, including septicaemia, pyaemia, acute
abscesses, ulcers, erysipelas, etc., are produced by a few forms
of micrococci, resembling each other in many points but differing
slightly. They are found almost indiscriminately in any of these
wound infections, and none of them appears to have any definite
relation to any special form of disease unless it be the
micrococcus of erysipelas. The common pus micrococci are grouped
under three species, Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus,
Staphylococcus pyogenes, and Streptococcus pyogenes. These three
are the most common, but others are occasionally found.
In addition to these, which may be regarded as demonstrated, the
following diseases are with more or less certainty regarded as
caused by distinct specific bacteria: Bronchitis, endocarditis,
measles, whooping-cough, peritonitis, pneumonia, syphilis.
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