It is evident from reports coming from various Army cantonments1 that measles, because of the severity and frequency of its complications, must be regarded as a serious camp disease. Complications necessitate long hospitalization and cause, therefore, a high noneffective rate; bronchopneumonia and empyema have been responsible for many deaths. With surprising uniformity, the complications have been due to infection with a hemolytic streptococcus.
In the report of a commission2 sent by the Surgeon-General of the Army to study the pneumonia at San Antonio, Texas, two significant facts concerning the relation of the streptococcus to the complications of measles were pointed out: First; a relatively small number of measles patients (11.4 per cent.) harbored this organism in their throats on admission to the hospital; second, many more acquired S. hemolyticus in their throats for the first time during their stay in the wards. It was therefore inferred that at