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INFECTIONS FROM THE EXCITANTS OF DIPHTHERIA, ETC. 337
7. INFECTIONS RESULTING FROM THE ACCUMULATION OF
THE EXCITANTS OF DIPHTHERIA, SYPHILIS,
TYPHUS, ETC., IN THE ORAL CAVITY.

The question naturally follow.s close upon the above con-
siderations : Does the mouth present favorable conditions for
the growth of the specific excitants of those devastating in-
fectious diseases, tuberculosis, cholera, syphilis, etc. ? May it
serve as a breeding-place for the specific germs of these diseases
which may enter it from the air, and thus lead to auto-infec-
tions ?
We have seen (pages 259-262) that a bacterium identical with
the pneumonia-coccus often grows in the mouth of healthy per-
sons, and expressed the view that under certain predisposing
circumstances the germs carried from the mouth into the lungs
may produce croupous pneumonia.
The occurrence of diphtheria-bacilli in the saliva of a healthy
child, as has been observed by Loffler,-^^ favors the view that
the secretions of the mouth are a suitable nutrient medium for
the germs of diphtheria also, and that possibly they appear in
the mouth oftener than has hitherto been supposed, reserving
their specific action until certain favorable conditions prevail.
In such a case the diphtheria-bacillus might also be classed
among the mouth-bacteria.
The occurrence of a primary tuberculosis of the oral cavity
would seem to justify the hypothesis that the juices of the
mouth also furnish the tubercle-bacillus with a suitable nutrient
medium. But it must not be forgotten that tuberculosis arises
primarily in other localities remote from the oral cavity (testicles,
etc.), and that the saliva of healthy persons has hitherto been
examined in vain for tubercle-bacilli.
For the syphilis-bacillus the oral cavity seems, as a matter of
fact, to be a favorite abode ; it is not only particularly preferred
by s}^hilis, but the buccal juices serve also as carriers of the
poison, and, lea^ing copulation out of account, the great majority
of infections take place from the oral cavity.
The transmission of syphilitic poison by means of saliva or
instruments employed in the mouths of syphilitic patients is, as
well known, an only too frequent occurrence.
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