Pneumococcic peritonitis differs essentially from peritoneal infections by other organisms. Because of these differences and because of its comparative rarity and high mortality rate, the disease presents points of the greatest clinical interest.
This paper, based on six cases, deals with (a) the incidence of the disease, (b) the types of infection, (c) the mode of infection, (d) the clinical manifestations of the different types, (e) the prognosis and (f) the treatment.
THE INCIDENCE OF THE DISEASE
It is impossible to give accurate figures as to the proportion of this type of infection, for it is probable that many cases in which bacteriologic studies are not made are overlooked or are recorded as streptococcic peritonitis.McCartney and Frazer1 stated that "about 2 per cent of the abdominal emergencies of childhood are due to abdominal pneumococcal infection." Jensen2 found 106 cases in the literature before 1903. Beaven3 reported nine cases observed