STUDIES ON EXPERIMENTAL PNEUMONIA

Abstract

1. Virulent influenza bacilli, when injected into the nose and throat of monkeys (Cebus capucinus and Macacus syrichtus), excite an acute inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, characterized by swelling and hyperemia of the mucous membrane, infiltration of the mucosa and subrnucosa with leucocytes, desquamation of epithelial cells, and the production of a mucopurulent exudate. The accessory sinuses are often implicated in the infection. 2. Experimental Bacillus influenzæ infections of the upper respiratory tract are frequently accompanied or followed by bronchiolitis, peribronchial infiltration, and bronchopneumonia with hemorrhage and edema in the early stage, emphysema and bronchiectasis in the later stages. In general, the process closely resembles uncomplicated Bacillus influenzæ pneumonia in man. 3. The injection of virulent influenza bacilli directly into the trachea of monkeys induces in them an experimental bronchiolitis and hemorrhagic bronchopneumonia, similar in all respects to spontaneous Bacillus influenzæ pneumonia. 4. In experimental Bacillus influenzæinfections of either the upper or lower respiratory tract the influenza bacillus can usually be recovered during .the acute stage by culture, either pure or in association with other bacteria. 5. In experimental Bacillus influenzæ infections in monkeys characteristic changes occur in the thymus gland—hyperplasia of the follicles, distention of the lymphatic channels, and infiltration of the parenchyma with leucocytes. This enlargement appears to be merely part of a general hyperplasia of the lymphoid structures in the cervical and thoracic regions.