Waksman — 184 — Actinomycetes 



walking. The organisms were said to produce typical clubs, but their 

 cultural characters and animal pathogenicity were different from those 

 caused by species of Actinomyces. The nocardias were found to have 

 a marked affinity for iron. 



Baldacci (18-20) suggested that the various strains of aerobic acid- 

 fast actinomycetes represent only minor differences in their biologic 

 characters, and must be considered as variants of N. asteroides. 



According to Drake and Henrici (96), Nocardia asteroides has 

 little invasive power for rabbits and guinea pigs. Large doses intra- 

 peritoneally in guinea pigs, smaller doses intravenously in rabbits, pro- 

 duced death with acute peritonitis and multiple miliar)^ abscesses, re- 

 spectively. But smaller doses produced neither lesions nor death. 

 Subcutaneous and intramuscular injections did not spread, but healed. 

 All attempts to produce a progressive disease similar to tuberculosis 

 failed. An allergic state in rabbits and guinea pigs against N. asteroides 

 could be induced with regularity only by the intratesticular injection 

 of oil suspensions of live organisms. 



Various other strains of aerobic actinomycetes have been isolated 

 from human infections. An actinomyces isolated from the ear in- 

 volved a disease resembling the ordinary type of chronic suppurative 

 otitis media (327). The organism was said to have maintained itself 

 in the middle ear for 10 or more years. Two cases of N. asteroides in- 

 fection with pulmonary and multiple subcutaneous abscesses and si- 

 nuses, with a cerebral abscess suspected in one case, were observed 

 (30). The organisms were isolated from the sputum and from the 

 subcutaneous lesions of both. N. asteroides was also isolated (37) from 

 a case of chronic suppurative pneumonitis and massive cerebral abscess 

 in a man under observ^ation for a brain tumor. 



KiRBY and McNaught (220) studied two cases which showed gross 

 and histologic signs of specific lesions as of an acute pyogenic inflam- 

 mation with a central zone of liquefactive necrosis and numerous 

 polymorphonuclear leucocytes. About the area of liquefaction there 

 was a zone of granulation tissue with neutrophils, Ivmphocytes, and 

 plasma cells and, at times, varying amounts of slightly more dense 

 fibrous tissue. The dispersed mycelia of the organism were not seen in 

 hematoxylin and eosin stains but were obser\'ed in sections stained by 

 Gram's method. 



In one case, the etiologic agent was isolated from the sputum, sub- 

 cutaneous abscesses, and blood stream; at autopsy, the lungs, peri- 

 bronchial lymph nodes, heart, thyroid, kidneys, spleen, intestines, 

 muscles, and subcutaneous tissues contained abscesses produced by N. 

 asteroides. The second case was hospitalized for 5 days prior to death 

 with a clinical diagnosis of an intracranial lesion without localizing 

 signs. Autopsy revealed an abscess in the cerebellum caused by N. 

 asteroides. The lungs were suspected as the primary focus, and no 

 other metastases were found. 



