Abstract
Summary
The causal excitant of measles exists in the circulating blood during the febrile stage of the disease. The Berkfeld filtered virus blood induces in the monkey, rabbit and guinea pig the symptom complex of human measles.
A living agent capable of causing in the experimental animal a concomitant leucopenia and pyrexia may be propagated and subcultured in vitro through several generations upon hydrocele or semi-solid plasma Ringer medium. In the cultures prepared from the unfiltered human measles blood of reacting animals there frequently occurs a small gram positive coccus, which in subplants to blood agar medium grows readily and under aerobic conditions. Cultures of this coccus are likewise capable of inducing in the rabbit a leucopenia and pyrexia following an incubation period of seven to eight days. The coccus culturally and tinctorially corresponds to the culture reported by Tunnicliff. Since the COCCUS was cultured from the unfiltered measles blood, we prefer to reserve opinion at this writing regarding its significance in measles.
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