Pneumococcus peritonitis is a rather rare disease among infants and young children. The great majority of the patients in the Babies' Hospital are under 2 years of age, although those up to 4 years are admitted. In the last thirteen years there have been treated 171 cases of general peritonitis of which nine have been proved bacteriologically to be of pneumococcus origin.
This form of peritonitis has been well described by Jensen,1 Brunn,2 Annard and Bowen,3 Rischbieth,4 Cameron5 and Abt.6 It is not the purpose of this paper to duplicate their work, but to point out some of the peculiar features which this disease presents during very early life.
The pathology of the peritoneal inflammation is a purulent fibrinoplastic exudate which involves the whole peritoneal cavity. If the patient lives, adhesions form in the exudate which limit the process, finally causing a localized abscess.