HEMCLYTIC STREPTOCOCCUS GANGRENE

Abstract

In 1924 a series of twenty cases of hemolytic streptococcus gangrene was reported from the clinic of the Peking Union Medical College in China.¹Although the condition is relatively rare in this country as compared with China, it does occur rather frequently in the United States, and a case is likely to come into the experience of any surgeon in the course of a year. I have seen eleven cases in the last four years, seven at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York, and four which were called to my attention in other hospitals. It is not common enough to be recognized readily, and yet its early recognition and prompt operative relief are of the utmost importance. Usually when the surgeon sees his first case, he is struck by the dramatic rapidity of its development. He is greatly perplexed to know what to do and either delays treatment in