Abstract
Several months ago, Miss Peterson and I reported finding B. histolyticus in a sample of arable soil from California. 1 This was one of the few times that this organism has been recovered from a source other than war wounds, and, we believe, the first authentic report of its occurrence outside of the war zone, and particularly in America.
I have just recently isolated another strain of B. histolyticus (No. 290) from a human stool, which suggests that this highly pathogenic organism, like B. Welchi, B. tetani, and B. botulinus, at least occasionally, if not usually, makes its home in the intestinal tract of man and possibly other animals and gains access to the soil in part from fecal sources. There seems to be no previous record of the recovery of B. histolyticus directly from the intestinal tract or from feces.
The stool from which it came was obtained March 24, 1923, from a healthy young man, a prisoner in San Quentin prison, serving with several others in a diet squad under the direction of Dr. G. W. Clark in his study of calcium metabolism in relation to dental diseases. This squad had just completed an eight weeks' period in which the weekly menu was typified by that of this man in the last week as follows, in grams: bread 1500, granulated sugar 415, sugar candy 210, shredded wheat 335, graham crackers 700, meat 758, milk 3500, raisins 420, tomatoes 1021, salt 15, butter 415.
The stool was collected aseptically in a large sterilized evaporating dish and was kept covered in an ice chest until sampling time, which was about two hours afterwards. The stool was moderate in size, soft, but well formed.
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