Bacteriocholia

BACTERIOCHOLIA (from bacteria and Greek chole- bile), the finding of microbes in bile. Under normal conditions bile is sterile, although the bile passages are in direct communication with the lumen of the intestine and, consequently, with its microbial flora. Apparently, infection of the bile is hindered by a purely mechanical factor—the current of bile, which washes away microbes. One cannot speak of the bactericidal nature of bile, since many microbes, especially from the group of B. typhi and B. coli (Laubenheimer, Forster), grow and develop well in it. With stasis of bile, favorable conditions for the multiplication of bacteria are created in the bile passages, and then bacteriocholia easily arises. Thus, it is sufficient to apply a light ligature to the ductus choledochus for infection of the gallbladder bile to occur due to the penetration of microbes from the intestine upward through the ligature (Homen). Besides such, enterogenous, bacteriocholia, there may be hematogenous in origin, if it results from the release of microbes into the bile from the blood during bacteremias (see.). As Biedl and Kraus showed, when bacteria are introduced into the bloodstream of animals, microbes can already be found in the bile within a few hours.