Bacteriurua in mental disease, its frequency and possible significance, being an analysis of the urinary flora in 50 cases of mental disease, with a note on the associated clinical condition, and the pathological constituents of the urine

SUMMARY OF CONCLUSIONS: I. Bacteria are present in the urine of patients with mental disease. II. They are mainly diphtheroids, both aerobes and anaerobes, staphylococci, streptococci and coliform organisms. III. They appear in 90% of the cases in this series, 10% being sterile. IV. They appear in various forms of mental disease. V. They appear in both male and female patients, coliform organisms appearing in nine cases out of twenty-four females and in only one case out of twenty-six males. VI. There is no striding difference between the nature of the organisms appearing in the urine of patients with mental disease and in the urine of patients without, except that at present, I have no evidence that anaerobic diphtheroids and streptothrices, aerobes and anaerobes, appear in the latter, though I see nothing inherently improbable in their doing so. VII. There is no striking difference in the proportion in which different organisms appear in the two types of oases, though there may be more multiple infections in cases of mental disease than in the others. VIII. The bacterial content of the urine must be studied along with the associated facts, viz:.- the presence of albumin, sugar, and indican, the content of cells and crystals, the intestinal flora, and the symptoms. Albuminuria and indicanuria occur in eight and in five cases respectively and were associated with symptoms in every case. IX. In six cases out of ten the urinary flora compared very closely with the intestinal; in three there was a certain similarity, though not to so marked a degree; in one the flora were strilingly different. X. Organisms may appear in the urine while the patient.is having a temporary remission of symptoms. XI. They may be associated with diverse symptoms in different cases, indicating diseased individuals rather than disease. XII. In four out of five cases in which the urine was sterile there were practically no symptoms. XIII. A close correspondence is observed between the urinary picture and the clinical picture in those cases in which the toxic element is very marked.

Grantor dc:publisher

The University of Edinburgh

Year dc:date.issued

1922

Author dc:creator

• Vieyra, Peter

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/34294

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:era.ed.ac.uk:1842/34294