Abstract
Conclusions
The vibrios which have been studied in this endemic area for cholera (Bengal) appear to fall into 3 groups on the basis of their carbohydrate content and agglutinability. In the majority of vibrios derived from cholera, galactose is the characteristic sugar. A second smaller group of vibrios, also from cholera, contain arabinose. These do not appear to differ from the first in agglutinability or in virulence, to judge from the type of case in which they have been found. The third group consists of non-agglutinable vibrios derived from water, some of which differ from Vibrio cholerae only in their failure to react with cholera agglutinating serum. All of these are arabinose-containing vibrios.
Polysaccharides containing both arabinose and galactose have been isolated from “rice-water” stools of cholera cases.
Both types of carbohydrate have an antibacteriolytic effect.
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