FAMILY X. LACTOBACILLACEAE 



541 



148; original name withdrawn by Tunnicliff, 

 Jour. Inf. Dis., 58, 1936, 1.) 



mor.bil.lo'rum. Ij. noun morbus disease; 

 M.L. dim. noun inorbilhis little disease; jjI. 

 morbilli measles; M.L. gen. noun morbil- 

 lorum of measles. 



Spheres, 0.6 to 0.8 micron in diameter, 

 occurring in short chains, rarely in small 

 masses. Gram-positive. 



This organism does not develop on ordi- 

 nary culture media; the addition of fresh 

 serum or ascitic fluid is necessary. 



Gelatin: No liquefaction. 



Serum agar colonies: Very small, puncti- 

 form, appearing after 5 to 22 days. No gas 

 is produced. 



Glucose agar containing ascitic fluid and 

 blood: Colonies are slightly larger and ap- 

 pear more rapidly than those on serum 

 agar; greenish. 



Blood agar colonies: Surrounded by a 

 greenish halo. May be large and moist. Gas 

 is not produced. 



Broth: Very poor growth. 



Hemolysed blood broth: Growth floccu- 

 lent, leaving the liquid clear. 



Milk: Unchanged by most strains. Acidi- 

 fied and coagulated by some strains. 



Indole not produced. 



Insoluble in bile. 



Acid from glucose, sucrose and maltose. 



Anaerobic; most strains become aerotol- 

 erant with transfers. 



Temperature relations: Optimum, 37° C. 

 Killed in 45 minutes at 57° C. Withstands 

 — 2° C. for two weeks. 



Distinctive characters: Greenish colonies 

 on blood media; poor growth on ordinary 

 media. 



Comments: Certain strains of this organ- 

 ism become aerotolerant upon repeated 

 transfers; these aerotolerant strains are 

 regarded as varieties of this species by Pre- 

 vot (op. cit., 1933, 152). 



Source: Isolated from the throat and 

 blood in cases of measles. 



Habitat: Found in the nose, throat, eyes, 

 ears, mucous secretions and blood from 

 cases of measles. 



TRIBE II. LACTOBACILLEAE WINSLOW ET AL., 1920. 



(Winslow, Broadhurst, Buchanan, Krumwiede, Rogers and Smith, Jour. Bact., 5, 



1920, 211.) 



Lac.to.ba.cil'le.ae. M.L. mas.n. Lactobacillus tj^pe genus of the tribe; -eae ending to 

 denote a tribe; M.L. fem.pl.n. Lactobacilleae the Lactobacillus tribe. 



Straight or curved rods usually occurring singly or in chains, sometimes in filaments; 

 so-called false branching may also occur. Usually non-motile but may be motile, the motile 

 species possessing peritrichous flagella. Gram-positive. Gelatin may be liquefied, but only 

 by the strict anaerobes. Carbohydrates are usually attacked, the end-products of fermenta- 

 tion including either one or a number of the following: formic, acetic, propionic, butyric, 

 lactic and valerianic acids, alcohol and carbon dioxide. Microaerophilic to anaerobic. Cata- 

 lase-negative. May or may not be pathogenic. Found in fermenting animal and plant prod- 

 ucts; also found in the intestinal tracts and in lesions of various warm-blooded animals, 

 including man. 



The physiologies of the strictly anaerobic species included in this tribe have not been 

 completely elucidated; future work may show that some of these species should be placed 

 in Propionibacterium Orla-Jensen or in Butyribacterium Barker and Haas. 



Key to the genera of tribe Lactobacilleae. 



I. Microaerophilic to anaerobic. Glucose fermented with the production of lactic acid 

 (subgenus Lactobacillus Beijerinck) or with the production of lactic and acetic acids, 

 alcohol and carbon dioxide (subgenus Saccharobacillus van Laer). 



Genus I. Lactobacillus, p. 542. 



