Hemolytic Streptococci with Measles.—The incidence of hemolytic streptococci in the throats of patients with measles admitted to the base hospital at Ft. Riley was found to be remarkably small.
| Table LV | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hemolytic Streptococci with Measles in all Patients Admitted to the Wards at Camp Funston | |||||
| DAYS IN HOSPITAL | APPROXIMATE DAY OF DISEASE | NO. OF PATIENTS CULTURED | NO. WITH HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI | PER CENT WITH HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI | |
| First Culture | 0 to 1 | 1 to 8 | 112 | 3 | 2.67 |
| Second Culture | 3 to 10 | 4 to 16 | 86 | 11 | 12.79 |
| Third Culture | 8 to 23 | 12 to 26 | 58 | 14 | 24.14 |
| The first culture represents the findings on admission, in a series of 112 cases; 86 patients being cultured twice; 58 patients three times. | |||||
Of the 112 cases examined on admission only 3, or 2.67 per cent were found to carry hemolytic streptococci. Those patients who were recultured after from three to ten days in the hospital showed an incidence of 12.8 per cent. A third culture including patients from eight to twenty-three days in the hospital, showed an incidence of 24.1 per cent.
Hemolytic Streptococci in the Throats of Normal Men.—A total of 274 throat cultures from normal men on duty at Camp Funston (Table LVI) shows that 21.9 per cent carried hemolytic streptococci at a time when there were few upper respiratory infections in the camp. A small group of men resident in the hospital shows a slightly higher prevalence of hemolytic streptococci (29.3 per cent).
The figures in Table LVI are in sharp contrast with those for measles patients on admission to the hospital.
| Table LVI | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Incidence of Hemolytic Streptococci, Camp Funston. | |||
| NUMBER EXAMINED | HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI PRESENT | PER CENT WITH HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI | |
| (a) White Men: | |||
| 70th Infantry | 24 | 4 | 16.7 |
| 210th Engineers, Co. C | 26 | 6 | 23.1 |
| 164th Depot Brigade, Co. 15 | 50 | 10 | 20.0 |
| 164th Depot Brigade, Co. 18 | 51 | 13 | 25.5 |
| 164th Depot Brigade, Co. 28 | 50 | 13 | 26.0 |
| Total | 201 | 46 | 22.9 |
| (b) Colored Men, Detention Camp No. 2: | |||
| 164th Depot Brigade, Prov. Co. 22 | 25 | 6 | 24.0 |
| 3d Development Battalion, Co. A | 24 | 3 | 12.5 |
| 3d Development Battalion, Co. D | 24 | 5 | 20.8 |
| Total | 73 | 14 | 19.2 |
| (c) Men resident in the hospital: | |||
| Laboratory workers | 10 | 3 | 30.0 |
| Patients in surgical ward | 14 | 4 | 28.6 |
| Total | 24 | 7 | 29.3 |
Two organizations from which normal men were chosen for examination furnished a considerable number of cases of measles and offer data (Table LVII, A and B) for further comparison.
| Table LVII | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Hemolytic Streptococci with Measles in 164th Depot Brigade, Company 28. | ||||
| DAYS IN HOSPITAL | NO. OF PATIENTS CULTURED | NO. WITH HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI | PER CENT WITH HEMOLYTIC STREPTOCOCCI | |
| First Culture | 0 to 1 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| Second Culture | 3 to 9 | 23 | 4[[90]] | 17.4 |
| Third Culture | 10 to 21 | 21 | 4 | 19.05 |
| Normal men of Co. 28 | 50 | 13 | 26.00 | |
| B. Hemolytic Streptococci with Measles in Seventieth Infantry | ||||
| First Culture | 0 to 1 | 38 | 0 | 0 |
| Second Culture | 5 to 9 | 25 | 1 | 4.0 |
| Third Culture | 8 to 17 | 12 | 2 | 16.7 |
| Normal men on duty with 70th Infantry | 24 | 4 | 16.7 | |
No one of the 61 cases of measles from the two organizations was found to be positive on admission to the hospital. Yet among normal men in one of these organizations the incidence of hemolytic streptococci was 26 per cent and in the other, 16.7 per cent. In both organizations the incidence among normal individuals compares closely with that of the patients after a period in the measles wards of the hospital.
Discussion.—Three features of the data collected at Camp Funston are noteworthy. First, the small percentage of S. hemolyticus carriers among the men admitted to the hospital with measles as compared with the percentage found in normal men in the camp. Second, the increase in the number of S. hemolyticus carriers among patients during their stay in the hospital, the increase continuing until it approaches that of the normal men on the outside. Third, the prevalence of hemolytic streptococci in normal throats.