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Annual of the universal medical sciences and analytical index (1895)
Annual of the universal medical sciences and analytical index - 1895 Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DISEASES OF THE LUNGS AND PLEURA. By JAMES C. WILSON, M.D., AUGUSTUS A. ESHNER, M.D., PHILADELPHIA. PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS. Etiology. — The infect... more »ive nature of the seminal fluid of tuberculous patients has been studied by various authors, but with results somewhat contradictory in character. Investigations made by Spano, Mo however, seem to indicate that the seminal fluid in such cases may transmit the infection, even when the genitourinary tract is not involved in the disease. Eight cases were observed by the author,—six of pulmonary tuberculosis and two of tuberculous arthritis. In the former and in one of the latter the spermatic fluid was obtained from the seminal vesicles after death, under appropriate antiseptic precautions. In the remaining one it was obtained in the course of an ordinary emission. To exclude the possibility of the existence of a beginning tuberculosis of the genito-urinary tract that might have escaped macroscopical observation, histological examinations were made in all of the fatal cases. Cover-glass preparations were made and stained by approved methods. In three, tubercle bacilli were readily detected ; in five, not at all; in one, bacilli were found only after the fluid had been treated with caustic soda and boiled, the supernatant fluid being decanted. Intra-peritoneal injection of a portion of the fluid was practiced in seven cases, with success in five. Vaginal inoculation was practiced in four instances, with success in two. Cultivation experiments were undertaken in six instances, with success in three. In neither of the two cases of tuberculous arthritis was the seminal fluid infective. While the number of observations is perhaps too small to warrant ultimate conclusions, the results are, to say the least, extremely suggestive. ...« less