EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE NASOPHARYNGEAL SECRETIONS FROM INFLUENZA PATIENTS : V. BACTERIUM PNEUMOSINTES AND CONCURRENT INFECTIONS.

During the course of animal experiments with the anaerobic filter-passing organisms cultivated from epidemic influenzal sources, certain pulmonary infections with ordinary bacteria have been observed. The experiments also have shown that the lungs of animals infected with Bacterium pneumosintes are less resistant than normal lungs to infection with ordinary bacteria. The demonstration of this fact invites a comparison of the course of these experimental bacterial infections with the sequence of postinfluenzal pneumonias attributable to similar organisms in man. These observations furnish additional proof of the identity of Bacterium pneumosintes and the active agent derived from the nasopharyngeal secretions of patients in the early hours of epidemic influenza.