THE numerous cases, which have been reported, of infection of human beings by Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae, the causative agent of swine erysipelas, fall into three rather well defined clinical categories (see Klauder1 for the literature). These are (1) a mild, localized cutaneous form (erysipeloid of Rosenbach2), (2) a severe, generalized cutaneous form and (3) a septicemic form, with or without cutaneous involvement, sometimes complicated by specific endocarditis (Russell and Lamb3). The less frequent clinical and anatomic manifestations which have been recorded are arthritis (Düttmann,4 Brind5 and Wüthrich6), meningitis (Dumont and Contoni7), lymphangitis and lymphadenopathy (Schölzke8), optic neuritis (Peters9), intracranial abscess (Torkildsen10) and osseous necrosis (Klauder, Kramer and Nicholas11).
Characteristically, the cutaneous lesions assume the form of superficial, more or less circumscribed, slightly elevated and moderately edematous areas of erythema (Callomon12). Vesication of the eruption has been but rarely observed and then chiefly in the form of hemorrhagic blebs at the site of inoculation