DIPHTHERIA OF THE SKIN

While reports of diphtheritic infection of the skin are fairly frequent, it seems worth while to place this case on record since the virulence of the diphtheria bacilli was determined, and necropsy was done. In most of the reported cases of skin diphtheria, such as those of Reinhardt,1the presence in the lesions of organisms morphologically resembling diphtheria bacilli and a favorable response to treatment with diphtheria antitoxin have been considered sufficient criteria for the diagnosis. However, the prevalence of diphtheroid bacilli on the surface of the body, and the not infrequent value in skin disorders of injections of nonspecific protein, tend to vitiate the reliability of those diagnostic methods. Edelstein-Halpert2reports a number of cases in which diphtheria bacilli were recovered from various skin lesions not suggesting diphtheria, in five of which the virulence of the organisms was found, and two cases of clinical skin diphtheria in