A note on the mechanism of the peculiar lesions produced by bacillus histolyticus

Abstract

B. histolyticus was first described by Weinberg and Seguin 1 in 1915 as an obligate anaerobe from war wound infections in which is may display a remarkable and peculiar lytic activity. Pure virulent cultures injected intramuscularly into guinea pigs literally digest the flesh from the bones, hence the name—histolyticus.

Notwithstanding its marked ability to dissolve living muscular tissues its proteolytic action in brain, meat, milk, serum, and egg mediums is slow though fairly complete over long periods of time. Weinberg and Seguin 1 found that sterile filtrates liquify coagulated egg white and gelatin and Blancet Pozerski 2 and Dernby and Blanc, 3 concluded that a tryptic enzyme is secreted by this species.

Weinberg and Sequin 1 also noted that sterile filtrates injected intramuscularly in fairly large doses produce large hemorrhages, apparently by destruction of the vascular walls and we have confirmed this phenomenon by injecting guinea pigs with 2 c.c. of the Berkefeld filtrate from 24 hour glucose broth cultures of several of our strains including the California strain. Sterile hematomas the size of a pigeon's egg generally appear within several days following such injections. The blood contained therein does not become hemolysed and recovery follows their drainage. We have never observed the muscular tissues to disintegrate or the skin to break, however, from the injection of filtrates as after the injection of living cultures. It seems apparent that the hemorrhage induced by the soluble secretions of this species plays an important rule in the peculiar phenomena accompanying at least experimental infection in affording a suitable focus for the growth of this germ which appears rarely if ever to invade the blood stream itself.