Treatment of Staphylococcic Infections of the Skin by the Bacteriophage

The Twort-d'Herelle phenomenon in which a lytic principle was demonstrated in connection with bacteria, was described by Twort1in 1915. Bacteriophage, the phenomenon of dissolution of bacteria by a filtrable principle, which is elaborated at the expense of lysed bacteria, was described by F. d'Herelle in 1917. Since then more than a thousand publications have appeared relative to the bacteriophage and its behavior. D'Herelle,2in his exhaustive book, referred to 647 original articles bearing on the phenomenon of the bacteriophage. Last year Alderson3presented before this society the first article to appear in dermatologic literature on the subject. The effectiveness of bacteriophage against organisms of the dysentery group and less so of the typhoid and colon group, and the recovery of a virulent bacteriophage for such organisms have led to the study of its behavior in diseases of the intestinal and urinary tracts to a greater extent