Globoid bodies and their occurrence in cultures.

Abstract

The term “globoid bodies” was first used by Flexner and Noguchi 1 in 1913 as a descriptive term for the minute spherical microorganisms cultivated by them from the filterable virus of poliomyelitis. Bashford and Wilson 2 likewise cultivated “globoid bodies” from lethargic encephalitis. Duval and I 3 have recently described a “globoid microorganism” in cultures of the blood from Dengue fever.

The “globoid bodies” described by Flexner and Noguchi consist of minute spheres or “coccoids” measuring from 0.15 to 0.3 microns in diameter and arranged in pairs, short chains, and masses. These bodies are best demonstrated tinctorially by the Giemsa method and are readily seen in dark-field preparations. Cultivation of the “globoids” has been obtained in the Smith-Noguchi tissue media. Growth has also been successful by the employment of Noguchi's Ringer-plasma medium devised for the cultivation of the Leptospira. The culture of the poliomyelitis globoids appears as an opalescent haze about the tissue, increasing for a period of five days, after which there occurs a gradual sedimentation. In our cultures of Dengue Globoids, either in the Smith-Noguchi media or Noguchi plain plasma mixture, visible growth was manifested by minute clear cut spherical or oval colony formation. These colonies were seen only after 2 or 3 weeks incubation, were densest at the bottom of the culture tube, gradually appearing smaller and more sparsely scattered as the upper portion of the medium was approached. No growth was visible for the upper inch just beneath the capping layer of paraffin oil. The colonies are comparatively larger below, measuring, however, only approximately 0.5 mm. and fading into pin-point size at the upper limit of the growth. No growth has been noted upon the surface of the medium.