536 



ORDER IV. EUBACTERIALES 



Med. Chirurg., 21, 1910, 450; Prevot, Ann. 

 Sci. Nat., Ser. Bot., 15, 1933, 170 and 184.) 



pu'tri.dus. L. adj. putridus rotten, de- 

 cayed. 



Spheres, averaging 0.8 micron in diame- 

 ter, occurring in chains. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Semi-solid agar (Veillon) colonies: More 

 or less lenticular; 1 to 2 mm in diameter; 

 no gas produced. 



Blood agar colonies: 2 mm in diameter; 

 become brownish, sometimes blackish on 

 aging. Surrounded by a brownish hemopep- 

 tic zone. 



Martin broth: In 6 to 8 hours there is a 

 uniform turbidity which does not precipi- 

 tate completely; no gas; little odor. 



Martin glucose broth: Rapid, abundant 

 growth; uniform turbidity; sediment; no 

 gas; slight fetid odor; black pigment in the 

 sediment. 



Meat and liver broth: Very abundant 

 growth; veiy marked putrid odor; incom- 

 plete sedimentation. 



Peptone broth: Sparse growth; neither 

 gas, odor, hydrogen sulfide nor indole is pro- 

 duced. 



Milk: No acid; no coagulation. 



Coagulated protein is not attacked. 



Deep blood agar: Agar is broken by the 

 gas (hydrogen sulfide). 



Fresh-blood broth: Abundant gas which 

 contains a large amount of hydrogen sulfide 

 is produced; blood blackens rapidly and 

 has typical putrid odor. 



Fresh fibrin broth: The fibrin is broken 

 up and partially digested. 



Lead media are blackened. 



Acid from glucose, fructose and maltose. 

 Acid sometimes produced from sucrose, 

 mannitol and galactose. Fermentation prod- 

 ucts include valerianic, butyric and acetic 

 acids (Prevot, Ann. Inst. Past., 67, 1941, 88). 



Neutral red is changed to fluorescent 

 yellow. 



Anaerobic. 



Temperature relations: Optimum, be- 

 tween 36° and 38° C. Growth feeble at 28° C. 

 No growth below 22° C. Killed in ten min- 

 utes at 80° C. 



Optimum pH, between 7.0 and 8.5. 



Rare strains are pathogenic for laboratory 

 animals. 



Distinctive characters: Putrescence but 

 absence of gas in ordinary media; presence 

 of gas and hydrogen sulfide in media with 

 fresh tissue or body fluids. 



Comments: Thomas and Hare (Jour. Clin. 

 Path., 7, 1954, 302) divide certain of the 

 anaerobic cocci into nine groups and state 

 that Group I is essentially Streptococmis 

 putridus. This group is described as in- 

 cluding Gram-positive, anaerobic spheres, 

 0.6 to 0.8 micron in diameter, which grow 

 in the form of chains and which, in media 

 containing 0.01 per cent sodium oleate, 0.1 

 per cent sodium thioglycollate and 1.0 per 

 cent of the substance tested, produce acid 

 and gas from glucose, fructose and maltose 

 and gas from pyruvate; galactose, sucrose, 

 malate, citrate, tartrate and lactate are not 

 attacked. Gas is produced in ordinary media 

 if sulfur compounds are present. 



Source: Isolated from normal and fetid 

 lochia; blood in puerperal fever; gangrenous 

 appendicitis; gangrene of the lung; gas gan- 

 grene; gangrenous metastases; war wounds; 

 osteomyelitis and from amniotic fluid. 

 Found in sea water by Montel and Mous- 

 seron (Paris Medical, 1929). 



Habitat: Found in the human mouth and 

 intestines and especially in the vagina. 



4. Peptostreptococcus productus (Pre- 

 vot, 1941) Smith, comb. nov. (Streptococcus 

 productus Pr6vot, Compt. rend. Soc. Biol., 

 Paris, 135, 1941, 105.) 



pro.duc'tus. L. adj. productus lengthened. 



Large spheres, 0.7 to 1.2 microns in diame- 

 ter, occurring in chains which contain 6 to 

 20 cells. Gram-positive. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Gas and odor produced. 



Deep agar colonies: Lens-shaped; slight 

 gas. 



Glucose broth: Homogeneous turbidity; 

 viscid; mucoid, coherent sediment; slight 

 gas; hydrogen sulfide is produced. 



Peptone broth: Homogeneous turbidity; 

 no gas; indole not produced. 



Milk: Slowly coagulated (8 to 10 daj^s). 



Coagulated proteins not attacked. 



Acid and gas from glucose, fructose, xy- 

 lose, arabinose, sorbose and lactose. Fer- 

 mentation products include ammonia, hy- 

 drogen sulfide, acetic and propionic acids 



