Pyocyaneus Meningitis

We are taking this opportunity of reviewing the literature and presenting a case report of a comparatively frequent saprophyte which on occasion attains moderate virulence and invades the blood stream and nervous system with fatal sequelae. The general surgeon, while not often troubled by the invasion of Bacillus pyocyaneus, encounters it frequently enough to recognize the greenish discoloration over a heretofore healthy granulating surface and may even anticipate it by the characteristic odor suggestive of wet musty hay arising from the dressings. A few applications of boric acid rapidly eradicate the invasion and hence cause no undue concern. The genito-urinary surgeon meets this organism with more frequency, for the urine appears to be an excellent culture medium. Weiss1claims an incidence of 25 per cent following pyelotomy. Scott2in 1929, while investigating the rigors attendant on instrumentation of the genito-urinary tract, took blood cultures on patients suffering chills