CAl SATloX ol' AXIMAF, DISKASKS 



263 



tritioiial pioportios of these ()i<;;iiiisins \va\v 

 bo(Mi pic'S(Mit(>d in Chajifcr 7. 



Further ;iii;ilysi>s ol' nocarchosis, or the 

 aerobic actiiuMnycotie ditseusesdue to a(Ml)l)i(' 

 actinomy(■etes, larj>;ely of tlie Noainhd type, 

 are foiuul in the numerous te\tl)ooks on l)ae- 

 terioh)j>;y (Plehn). 



Gruter made a comprehensix'e stu(l>' ol' 

 the occurrence" of actinomycetes in eye in- 

 fections, especially in tear glands and ducts. 

 He came to the conclusion that a nocardia 

 was invoh'ed. He designated his culture .1. 

 discofoliatus. 



According to (Jordon and Hagan, certain 

 acid-fast actinomycetes isolated from soils 

 and plant material are similar to those found 

 in lesions of men and animals. The pigments 

 produced hy these organisms range from 

 yellow through orange to coral. One of the 

 soil forms, soon after isolation, was found 

 to be pathogenic to rabbits but not to guinea 

 pigs. 



Allergic Reactions 



^'arious attempts have been made to ex- 

 amine the immunological reactions of ac- 

 tinomycetes. Goyal compared 11 cultures 

 obtained from collections and as fresh isola- 

 tions. Mo.'^t of them appeared to be members 

 of the genus Xocardia. When inoculated into 

 rabbits, they proved to be either entirely 

 nonpathogenic or onl.v slightly virulent, ex- 

 cept for X. eppingcri. The cultures were 

 grown in glycerol broth, at 88°C for 30 days; 

 extracts, designated as ".streptothricin," 

 were prepared in a manner comparable to 

 tuberculin (Helzer). Animals sensitized to 

 the nocardia extracts ("nocardin") were also 

 sensitive to tuberculin, and vice versa (Ble- 

 tey). Serologic studies confirmed the conclu- 

 sions reached on the basis of allergy tests; a 

 common antigen was demonstrated for the 

 tubercle l)acillus, the diphtheria organism, 

 and the nocardias. These results led to the 

 conclusion that there is a definite antigenic 



relationship between I lie ael inoniycetes and 

 the mycobacteria. 



l"u-ther studies of the ailei'gic reactions of 

 actinomycetes ha\'e been made b\' .Mafhie- 

 son ft ni. (1035). 



'I'herapy of Actinomycotic Diseases 



The therapy of actiiujmycosis has been 

 gi\en rather limited consideration (Memiing, 

 1933; Heuber, 1940). 



According to Cope: 



"The i)r()ji;nosis of actinomycosis varies greatly 

 according to the part of the bodj' affected. It is 

 most favourable with those cases which affect the 

 head and neck, less favourable with abdominal 

 cases, and most unpromising with thoracic disease 



"The great majority — probably 97 per cent^of 

 those cases in which the cheek, jaw, tongue, and 

 neck are involved come to a satisfactory issue. 

 The disease may last for several j^ears but nearly 

 always ends satisfactorily. The 3 per cent of cases 

 in which death results are those in which the 

 pathological process either extends deeplj' towards 

 the base of the skull and causes cerebral complica- 

 tions, or extends downwards to the superior and 

 posterior mediastinum, or more rarely, becomes 

 generalized." 



Treatment of actinomycosis consisted first 

 of radiation therapy and use of \'accines. 

 ]\Iore recently, with the advent of the sulfa 

 drugs (given internally or applied locallj^} 

 and especially the antibiotics, chemotherapj^ 

 of actinomycotic infections took a new turn. 

 Previously use was made of specific vaccines 

 (Scott), and iodine was considered to be by 

 far the most important drug which had a 

 definite effect in the treatment of actinomy- 

 cosis (Cope). But today the sulfa drugs and 

 the antibiotics have taken the place of iodine 

 in chemotherapy, of both actinomycosis and 

 nocardiosis. This was demonstrated by Cut- 

 ting and Gebhardt (1940), Dobson et al. 

 (1941), Hollenbeck and Turnoff (1943), 

 Lyons et al. (1943), Hendrickson and Leh- 

 man (1945), Farris and Douglas (1947), Kay 

 (1947), Holm (1948), Benbow et aJ. (1949), 

 Boand and Xovack (1949), Strauss et al. 



