Primary Staphylococcic Pneumonia

Increase in knowledge of acute bacterial pulmonary disease requires a revision in the terminology of lung infections. Anatomic or descriptive terms such as lobar, lobular, croupous, fibrinous or catarrhal pneumonia are no longer acceptable and will become as obsolete as the designation "enteric fever." It is not of much importance clinically, for example, whether in enteritis the ulcers are present solely in the ileum or in the colon, but it is extremely important whether the disease is due to the typhoid bacillus or to Endamoeba histolytica. Similarly, it is of no great moment from the standpoint of specific prophylaxis, therapy or prognosis whether the lesion in pneumonia is in the alveoli or in the interstitial tissue, but it is of great importance whether the infection is due to the type I pneumococcus or the staphylococcus. In other words, etiologic diagnoses must eventually supplant anatomic diagnoses. It is surprising that the