.12 



ORDER IV. EUBACTERIALES 



1. Streptococcus pyogenes Rosenbach, 

 1884. (Fehleisen, Ueber Erysipel, Deut. 

 Zeit. f. Chir., 16, 1882, 391; Erysipelkokken, 

 Fehleisen, Die Aetiologie des Erysipels, 

 Berlin, 1883; Rosenbach, Mikroorganismen 

 bei den Wundinfectionskrankheiten des 

 Menschens, 1884, 22; Streptococcus enjsip- 

 elatos (sic) Rosenbach, lac. cit.; Micrococcus 

 scarlaiinae and Streptococcus scarlatinae 

 Klein, Report of the Medical Officer of the 

 Local Government Board for 1885-1886, No. 

 8, 1887, 85; Streptococcus hemolyticus Roily, 

 Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 61, 1911, 87; 

 Streptococcus epidemicus Davis, Jour. Am. 

 Med. Assoc, 58, 1912, 1852; Jour. Inf. Dis., 

 15, 1914, 378; ibid., 19, 1916, 236.) 



py.o'ge.nes. Gr. noun pyum pus; Gr. v. 

 (jennaio to produce; M.L. adj. pyogenes pus- 

 producing. 



Spherical or ovoid cells, 0.6 to 1 micron 

 in diameter in cultures, usually spherical 

 in blood and inflammatory exudates, oc- 

 curring in chains or pairs; in broth culture, 

 usually long chains. Gram-positive. 



Serology: Constitutes Lancefield's group 

 A (Jour. Exp. Med., 57, 1933, 571). May be 

 subdivided into serological types by the 

 precipitin technique on the basis of the cap- 

 sular protein M antigen. This antigen, which 

 can be destroyed by certain proteolytic en- 

 zymes, is associated with virulence, and the 

 antibodies to which it gives rise are pri- 

 marily concerned with the specific protec- 

 tive action of immune sera (Lancefield, The 

 Harvey Lectures, Ser. XXXVI, 1940-1941, 

 251). At least 40 types have been identified. 

 May also be subdivided into types by the 

 agglutination technique (Griffith, Jour. 

 Hyg., 34, 1934, 542) on the basis of the cap- 

 sular T substance. The T substance is not 

 associated with virulence. The M and T sub- 

 stances are independent and may occur in 

 various combinations in different strains. 

 Some strains may lack either or both type- 

 specific antigens. 



Action on blood: Surface and submerged 

 colonies are beta hemolytic (Brown, Rocke- 

 feller Inst. Med. Res., Monograph 9, 1919, 

 14). In rare instances, some strains have 

 been noted to lose their hemolytic proper- 

 ties when cultured aerobically. Two soluble 

 antigenic hemolysins (streptolysins) pro- 

 duced in fluid cultures; influenced by con- 



stitution of medium and presence of serum. 

 Streptolysin O is reversibly oxygen-labile; 

 streptolysin S is very sensitive to heat and 

 acids but is stable to oxygen (Todd, Jour. 

 Path. Bact., ^7, 1938, 423). 



Colony form: Mucoid, matt and glossy 

 variants are ordinarily observed (Todd, 

 Brit. Jour. Exp. Path., 9, 1928, 1). The matt 

 colony type contains the type-specific M 

 substance and may or may not be virulent. 

 Mucoid variants also possess the M sub- 

 stance in addition to the serologically in- 

 active capsular substance, hyaluronic acid 

 (Kendall et ah. Jour. Biol. Chem., 118, 1937, 

 61). The glossy forms are always avirulent 

 and contain little or no M substance. 



Fibrinolytic (Tillett, Bact. Rev., 2, 1938, 

 161). Only very rare strains fail to dissolve 

 human fibrin. 



Temperature relations: Optimum tem- 

 perature, approximately 37° C. No growth 

 at 10° or 45° C. Does not survive 60° C. for 

 30 minutes. 



Tolerance tests : Fails to grow in presence 

 of 6.5 per cent NaCl or in skim milk contain- 

 ing 0.1 per cent methylene blue. No growth 

 in broth adjusted to pH 9.6 or on blood agar 

 containing 40 per cent bile. 



Litmus milk: Acid, seldom curdled, lit- 

 mus reduced slowly or not at all. 



Final pH in glucose broth, 4.8 to 6.0. 



Acid characteristically produced from 

 glucose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, salicin 

 and trehalose. No acid from inulin, raffinose, 

 arabinose, glycerol, mannitol, sorbitol or 

 dulcitol. Rare strains noted that fail to 

 ferment lactose, salicin or trehalose, or may 

 ferment mannitol. 



Starch not actively hydrolyzed, although 

 some strains are reported to hydrolyze this 

 substance under certain conditions (Crow- 

 ley, Jour. Gen. Microbiol., 4, 1950, 156). 



Gelatin is not liquefied, and casein is not 

 digested as detected by the usual cultural 

 methods. However, under certain conditions 

 some strains elaborate an extracellular pro- 

 teinase that destroys the type-specific M 

 antigen (except for type 28) . It also is able 

 to digest casein, gelatin and fibrin (Elliott, 

 Jour. Exp. Med., 81, 1945, 573). 



Sodium hippurate not hydrolyzed. Es- 

 culin usually split. 



Ammonia produced from arginine. 



