ENDEMIC MALTA (MEDITERRANEAN) FEVER IN TEXAS WITH THE ISOLATION OF THE MICROCOCCUS MELITENSIS FROM TWO PATIENTS

Abstract

In 1905, Captain Charles F. Craig,¹Medical Corps, U. S. Army, reported a case of Malta fever which had originated in the United States. The patient was a nurse in a hospital in Washington, D. C., where she contracted the disease, probably from nursing infected soldiers. In addition he reported nine cases in United States soldiers, who had become infected in the Philippine Islands. From the introduction to this communication by Captain Craig we quote the following remark: I am convinced that a careful study by use of the Widal test and the agglutination reaction withMicrococcus melitensis, of many of the cases of obscure continued fevers which are prevalent in this country, will result in the demonstration that Malta fever is by no means a rare disease in the warmer portions of the United States, and that many of the so-called anomalous cases of typhoid fever are, in