ON THE EXISTENCE OF EPIDEMIC CEREBRO-SPINAL MENINGITIS IN CHICAGO, WITH REPORT OF A CASE WITH AUTOPSY.

Abstract

The object of this paper is to prove two facts, first that a genuine case of epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis has occurred in Chicago, the proof resting on the clinical history and the autopsy, the latter showing the presence of the meninges of the diplococcus intracellularis meningitidis of Weichselbaum; second, that this case was not a sporadic one, but that many other cases have occurred, or in other words, that there is a mild epidemic of cerebro-spinal meningitis in this city. So far as I can learn this is the first case of this disease reported for some time in this city and the first case in which the presence of the meningococcus has been recorded as found, thus establishing the nature of the disease beyond a doubt. That many other cases have been recognized as epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, I am well aware from conversation with physicians. The patient was a