252 



THE ACTIXOAIYCETES, Vol. I 



Figure 97: A.bovis. (a) 48 hour, X300; (b) XlOfi, 

 L. Proc. Staff Meet. Mavo Clinir 25: 84, 1950.) 



(lays, X20 (Reproduce 1 from: Thompson, 



graphic in character, descriptive in nature, 

 and sanctioned by long usage." 



As reviewed previously (Chapters 1 and 

 4) the ''lumpy jaw" disease of cattle was 

 recognized for many years prior to modern 

 developments of microbiology. A similar, if 

 not the same, disease was also known to oc- 

 cur in man. In 1876, Bollinger observed that 

 a branched organism was constantly associ- 

 ated with the diseased jaw of a cow. He rec- 

 ognized the organism as the cause of the dis- 

 ease, and placed this material in the h;mds 

 of the botanist Harz. The latter examined 

 the granules, obser\-ed the characteristic ra- 

 diation of the organism, and named it Actino- 

 myces hovis and the disease "actinomycosis." 

 As pointed out pre\'iously, Harz never iso- 

 lated this organism in culture. 



A comprehensive review of the human and 

 animal diseases caused by actinomycetes is 

 found in the work of Pinoy (1918), Poncet 

 and Berard (1928), Cope, Dodge, Bullock, 

 Conant (1944), Topley and Wilson (1946), 

 Ennnons, Gonzalez-Ochoa, Mariat, and nu- 

 merous others. 



Isolation of Specific Actinomycetes from 

 Human and Animal Diseases 



Simultaneously with the work of Bollinger 

 and Harz, J. Israel (1878) was studying 

 pathologi(;al material from pyemia and sup- 

 puration in the neck of man; he obser^Td 

 granules which contained mycelium similar 

 to that described bv I^ollinger in cattle. The 



presence of a staphylococcal infection pre- 

 vented him from establishing definitely that 

 an actinomyces was the causative agent of 

 human actinomycosis. Ponfick (1879) is 

 usually credited with ha\'ing reported the 

 first accurate obser\'ation of the human in- 

 fection. 



Johne (1882) took serious exceptions to 

 Ponfick's claims, however. He stated that 

 Langenbeck was the first to obser\'e, in 1845, 

 the occurrence of actinomycetes in the hu- 

 man body, but he emphasized that it was 

 Israel (1878), in spite of Ponfick's claims, 

 who first recognized and described an ac- 

 tinomyces as a causati^'e agent of human 

 diseases. In the case of animals, Hahn (1870) 

 was said by Johne to have observed such an 

 organism on cattle tongue, but it was Bol- 

 linger (1876) who first recognized and de- 

 scribed its infectious nature. Johne gives 

 Ponfick only the credi": for recognizing the 

 identity of the human and animal pathogens. 



In 1885, Israel published the results of a 

 study of actinomycosis based upon 38 cases; 

 he thereby definitely elucidated the clinical 

 aspect of the disease. In 1885, Bostroem 

 claimed to have succeeded in isolating pure 

 cultures of the organism from cattle; later, 

 in 1890, he claimed further to have isolated 

 such cultures also from human lesions. Since 

 these cultures wvvc aerobes, it is now gen- 

 erally assumed that he isolated air contami- 

 nants. Bostroem's identification proved to 

 be incorrect and highly misleading. In 1889, 



