Abstract
This organism was cultured post-mortem from the lesion in an operative wound infection. The bacteriophagic study was carried out by two of us (F. L. M. and F. B. H.). The patient was operated on and cared for in another hospital by L. C.
The infection began on the eighth day and caused death on the thirty-fifth day after operation. The only other organism found was B. pyocyaneus. The virulence for laboratory animals of the organism to be described tends to confirm the belief that this organism was the cause of the human lesion and is pathogenic for man.
Pathogenicity. It is lethal in small doses for white mice, white rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, pigeons, chickens, cats and dogs. No other animals were tested. In these animals, when injected subcutaneously, it produces an extensive hemorrhagic edema resembling the lesions produced by C. novyi (B. oedematiens) and C. oedematis maligni (Vibrion septique), but differing somewhat from each of these. The animals succumb to the infection within a few hours or days. The organism may be recovered after death from the lesion, the peritoneum and the heart's blood. The pathogenicity of the strain has been maintained for nearly two years with repeated transplantation on artificial media.
Morphology. It is a gram positive bacillus varying from 1 to 4 mu in length and 0.3 to 0.5 mu in thickness. It is motile in young cultures. It produces spores readily on all media except those containing dextrose. The spores are generally para-central, but many are found free. The vegetative forms have no capsule, but the spores appear to have a thin capsule with the Hiss stain.
Anaerobiosis. Conditions of anaerobios is for this study have been accomplished by the use of a modification of the McIntosh and Filde jar.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.