The hemolytic streptococcus has been found frequently in association
with purulent pleural effusions in influenza, Thomas (146), Stone and
Swift (138), Ely et al (37); and Goodpasture (48) has suggested an
etiologic relationship between the type of effusion and the infecting
organism in influenza, as has been brought forward for the similar
post-measles empyema in the army camps. At the New Haven Hospital the
Streptococcus hemolyticus was found frequently in non-fatal empyema.
However, at post-mortem examination the frequency of this organism in
pleural effusions of various types was no greater than that of several
other organisms, but it occurred in the only two cases of frank empyema
of this series. (See Table No. II.)