The Influenza Bacillus in Inflammations of the Respiratory Tract in Infants

The object of the following s tudy is twofold: to determine the presence of influenza-like bacilli in the throat and bronchial mucus of children with and without pulmonary inflammations, and to arrive at a differentiation of these bacilli by means of cultural characters and agglutination reactions. The material was chosen with a view to including as many different pulmonary conditions as possible. A series of five normal infants, whose history showed no cough since birth, was first examined with negative results. Cases of coryza, bronchitis, broncho-pneumonia, lobar pneumonia, empyeema, rachitis, gastro-intestinal diseases, typhoid fever, diphtheria, tonsillitis, measles, general sepsis following mastoiditis, rheumatism, and cerebro-spinal meningitis, with and without pnuemonia, were next studied. The cases of coryza, bronchitis, and pneumonia were examined within from twenty-four to forty-eight hours after admission, whether the onset had been such as to suggest influenza or not. Only those cases were diagnosed "influenza" which showed the influenza bacillus in the bronchial or nasal secretions. I am indebted to Dr. L. Emmet Holt for the oppor tuni ty of s tudying twenty-two cases of measles at the Foundling Asylum. Of the cases which came to autopsy at the Babies' and Foundling Hospitals blood-agar plates were made from the lungs irrespective of the cause of death. The method employed was as follows; a sterile swab was rubbed over the posterior pharangeal wall, care being taken to avoid the tongue and the roof of the mouth. In most instances