Abstract
The presence of Monilia in the intestinal tract, skin lesions, and bronchial secretions of individuals afflicted with various pathological conditions has long been recognized, particularly through the work of Castellani, 1 Ashford 2 and Fleisher. 3
Lately, Wood 4 suggested the possible relationship between Monilia and pernicious anemia, and cited some instances wherein he had isolated Monilia, identical with the Monilia Psiliosis of Ashford, from the stools of pernicious anemia cases.
We have succeeded in isolating Monilia from 9 out of 10 cases of pernicious anemia. The single case in which we did not find the organism, was in state of remission at the time of the bacteriological examination. Our present paper deals with the bacteriological characteristics of these strains of Monilia found in cases of pernicious anemia as compared to a large number of closely related organisms.
In the past year we have studied over 50 strains of Monilia; of these, 10 were stock strains of known organisms secured from Dr. Fleisher, or from the American Type Culture Collection of Chicago. Nine strains were obtained from active cases of pernicious anemia. The remaining were isolated from cases such as:
It was found that there was no digereme in the mode of growth on solid (French proof agar) media with the exception of strain No. 6. Here the growth was dry, with a tendency to pile up, resembling very much the growth of tubercle bacilli, in comparison with the smooth creamy white growth of the other strains. All these organisms produce mycelia either laterally or dipping down into the media, with the exception of the above mentioned strain No. 6.
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