How do intestinal bacteria produce dis­ease?

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Intestinal Bacteria

Q. How do intestinal bacteria produce dis­ease?

A. The disease-producing bacteria which de­velop in the intestine produce their injurius effects through the poisons which result from their growth. These poisons are of two classes : First, those which are produced by the bac­teria while they are alive and which may be regarded as excretory products; second, those poisons believed by many to be still more virulent in character and consequences, known as en­dotoxins, which are formed within the bodies of the bacteria and are set free after death.

It is probable that each species of bacteria pro­duces its own special poisons, each of which produces specific effects upon the body, so that in reality each different species of these bacterial parasites may produce a different or specific dis­ease.

At the present time bacteriologists do not possess sufficient knowledge of bacteria or their  products to be able to distinguish or designate the different forms of disease to which these enemies of life and health give rise, except with reference to a few species. Future discoveries will doubtless throw much light upon this ques­tion.

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