TULAREMIA

Abstract

Francis and Callender 1 were able to obtain and study histologically material from only ten of the 323 cases of tularemia reported prior to 1927. During the first nine months of 1927 we have reviewed twenty-five additional case reports but have not found any further reference to the pathologic histology. The tissue in three of the ten cases studied by Francis and Callender was obtained at necropsy; study of the other seven cases was limited to the surgical material. Bacterium tularense was demonstrated in three of the ten cases. The clinical observations together with the agglutination test were assumed specific enough to brand the remaining seven cases as tularemia. The time elapsing between the onset of illness and the time the material for histologic study was taken ranged from eighteen to ninety-nine days in the cases examined at necropsy and from twelve to 240 days in those examined at biopsy.