Parasitic Bacteria And Their Relation To Disease
( Originally Published 1897 )
PERHAPS the most universally known fact in regard to bacteria is that they are the cause of disease. It is this fact that has made them objects of such wide interest. This is the side of the subject that first attracted attention, has been most studied, and in regard to which there has been the greatest accumulation of evidence. So persistently has the relation of bacteria to disease been discussed and emphasized that the majority of readers are hardly able to disassociate the two. To most people the very word bacteria is almost equivalent to disease, and the thought of swallowing microbes in drinking water or milk is decidedly repugnant and alarming. In the public mind it is only necessary to demonstrate that an article holds bacteria to throw it under condemnation.
We have already seen that bacteria are to be regarded as agents for good, and that from their fundamental relation to plant life they must be looked upon as our friends rather than as our enemies. It is true that there is another side to the story which relates to the parasitic species. These parasitic forms may do us direct or indirect injury. But the species of bacteria which are capable of doing us any injury, the pathogenic bacteria, are really very few compared to the great host of species which are harmless. A small number of species, perhaps a score or two, are pathogenic, while a much larger number, amounting to hundreds and perhaps thousands of species, are perfectly harmless. This latter class do no in-jury even though swallowed by man in thousands. They are not parasitic, and are unable to grow in the body of man. Their presence is entirely consistent with the most perfect health, and, indeed, there are some reasons for believing that they are sometimes directly beneficial to health. It is entirely unjust to condemn all bacteria because a few chance to produce mischief. Bacteria in general are agents for good rather than ill.
There are, however, some species which cause mankind much trouble by interfering in one way or another with the normal processes of life. These pathogenic bacteria, or disease germs, do not all act alike, but bring about injury to man in a number of different ways. We may recognise two different classes among them, which, however, we shall see are connected by intermediate types. These two classes are, first, the pathogenic bacteria, which are not strictly parasitic but live free in Nature; and, second, those which live as true parasites in the bodies of man or other animals. To understand the real relation of these two classes, we must first notice the method by which bacteria in general produce disease.
METHOD BY WHICH BACTERIA PRODUCE DISEASE
Since it was first clearly recognised that certain species of bacteria have the power of producing disease, the question as to how they do so has ever been a prominent one. Even if they do grow in the body, why should their presence give rise to the symptoms characterizing disease ? Various answers to this question have been given in the past. It has been suggested that in their growth they consume the food of the body and thus exhaust it ; that they produce an oxidation of the body tissues, or that they produce a reduction of these tissues, or that they mechanically interfere with the circulation. None of these suggestions have proved of much value. Another view was early advanced, and has stood the test of time. This claim is that the bacteria while growing in the body produce poi-sons, and these poisons then have a direct action on the body. We have already noticed that bacteria during their growth in any medium produce a large number of biproducts of decomposition. We noticed also that among these biproducts there are some which have a poisonous nature; so poisonous are they that when inoculated into the body of an animal they may produce poison ing and death. We have only to suppose that the pathogenic bacteria, when growing as parasites in man, produce such poisons, and we have at once an explanation of the method by which they give rise to disease.
This explanation of germ disease is more than simple theory. It has been in many cases clearly demonstrated. It has been found that the bacteria which cause diphtheria, tetanus, typhoid, tuberculosis, and many other diseases, produce, even when growing in common culture media, poisons which are of a very violent nature. These poisons when inoculated into the bodies of animals give rise to much the same symptoms as the bacteria do themselves when growing as parasites in the animals. The chief difference in the results from inoculating an animal with the poison and with the living bacteria is in the rapidity of the action. When the poison is injected the poisoning symptoms are almost immediately seen ; but when the living bacteria are inoculated the effect is only seen after several days or longer, not, in short, until the inoculated bacteria have had time enough to grow in the body and produce the poi-son in quantity. It has not by any means been shown that all pathogenic germs produce their effect in this way, but it has been proved to be the real method in quite a number of cases, and is extremely probable in others. While some bacteria perhaps produce results by a different method, we must recognise the production of poi-sons as at all events the common direct cause of the symptoms of disease. This explanation will enable us more clearly to understand the relation of different bacteria to disease.