The effects of micro-organisms on the central nervous system are protean. The author of this book presents the contributions which bacteriology and immunology have made to neurology.
Part 1 deals with the diseases of known etiology in which there is primary involvement of the nervous system; they include meningitis, encephalitis, herpes zoster, rabies and poliomyelitis. Part 2 is concerned with diseases of known etiology in which there is secondary involvement of the nervous system, such as abscess of the brain, tuberculosis, leprosy, typhus, diseases caused by viruses and protozoa, tetanus, diphtheria, botulism and dysentery. Part 3 summarizes the information available on the diseases of unknown etiology in which there is involvement of the nervous system (functional psychoses, for example), the importance of toxins in schizophrenia and the role of bacterial agents in epilepsy, chorea and encephalitis. Part 4 is a consideration of the immunologic aspects of the central nervous system.