CHRONIC FOCAL INFECTIONS AND THEIR ETIOLOGIC RELATIONS TO ARTHRITIS AND NEPHRITIS

There is nothing new in the principle involved in the subject of the paper. It has long been known that acute rheumatic joint-infections are the result frequently of a primary infection of the faucial tonsils, or tissues about them. Pneumonia is doubtless the frequent result of the sudden change of a non-virulent to virulent type of pneumococcus whose common habitat is the upper respiratory passages in city-dwellers. It has been shown that a common source of infection in epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis is the nasal mucous surfaces. Acute endocarditis also has its source, in many instances, from the faucial tonsils. Acute parenchymatous nephritis is frequently the result of the toxemia of diphtheria. Acute gonorrheal arthritis has its source in a focal infection of the urinary or genital tract. A local tuberculous focus may cause systemic infection.

SITE OF FOCAL INFECTION  1. The faucial tonsils, the peritonsillar tissues and supratonsillar