CAISATIOX OI' ANIMAL I )IS|;ASI:S 



251) 



tidii showed lypical ;ict iiKunyccs coldiiics. 

 Tlio histological appearance of I lie tuinois 

 A\as similar to that of actiiioiii\cot ic tissue. 

 Ill 11I05, WrijJiiil made a detailed study of 

 actinomycosis in man and in animals. He 

 suggested that the word "actinomycosis" 

 be restricted to a suppurati\-e i)rocess com- 

 bined with granulation tissue formation, the 

 pus of which contains the characteristic 

 granules. These are made up of dense ag- 

 gregates of brancluMl filamentous microor- 

 ganisms and of tluMr transformation or de- 

 generation products; th(^ latter include the 

 characteristic club-shap(Hl ho(li(>s radially 

 disposed at the periphery of the granule. 

 Cultures isolated from human and bovine 

 cases were found to show insufhcient differ- 

 ence to justify their classification as separate 

 species. Wright further suggested that organ- 

 isms different from .4. bovi,^ and which were 

 associated with other forms of actinomycosis 

 be grouped together under Nocardia, and 

 that those cases of undoubted infection 

 caused by them should be designated as "no- 

 cardiosis." 



The presence of actinomycetes in sputum 

 and in the contents of carious teeth was 

 studied by Lord. Emmons also obtained or- 

 ganisms of the A. bovis type from the oral 

 ca\'ity. He isolated from tonsils two micro- 

 aerophilic types of actinomyces: one, mor- 

 phologically and physiologically similar to 

 .4. hon's; and another somewhat different 

 morphologically, but also considered as a 

 strain of A. boria. Slack differentiated be- 

 tween the exogenous and endogenous types 

 of infection in actinomycosis: in the first, 

 awns of grass and grain frequently" obser^-ed 

 in actinomycotic lesions suggested their role 

 in the infection; in the second, the anaerobic 

 organisms isolated from normal mouth, from 

 tonsils, from carious teeth, and from pyor- 

 rhea pus suggest their etiology. The oral 

 cavity was looked upon as the source of in- 

 fection, possibly accompanied by sensitiza- 



FiCLRE 103. Lumpy jaw in a cow (Reproduced 

 from: Mohler, J. R. and Sliahan, M. S. U.S.I). A. 

 Circ. No. 4.38, 1937, i). 4). 



tion. Numerous in\-estigators (Alagnusson, 

 Negroni and Bonfiglioli) reported consid- 

 erable variation in the strains isolated from 

 different forms of clinical actinomycosis. 



Maxillary actinomycosis is belie^"ed to be 

 caused by organisms living in the mouth, 

 since the contents of the mouth and tonsils 

 were found capable of causing actinomycosis 

 in experimental animals. It was suggested 

 that ^4. bovis is often present in oral cavities, 

 where it may exist as a saprophyte. Emmons 

 also suggested the possibility that there are 

 atypical strains found in certain lesions, in 

 sputum, in carious teeth, and in tonsils. Hu- 

 man actinomycosis as influenced by mode 

 and source of infection has been studied by 

 Acland (1886), Shiota (1909), Mattson 

 (1922), Shapiro (1931), Thompson (1950), 

 and numerous others. 



Actinomycotic endocarditis has been 

 studied by Wedding (1947); actinomycosis 

 of the eye b}^ Herrenschwand (1927), of the 

 face and neck by Lamb et al. (1947), by 

 Glahn (1954), and by others. Skin actino- 

 mj'cosis has been studied by Namyslowski 

 (1909, 1912) and Daines and Austin (1932); 

 actinomycosis of the knee by Moore et al. 

 and many others; li\'er abscess by Bloom- 



