704 



ORDER V. ACTINOMYCETALES 



glycerol; experimentally produces general- 

 ized tuberculosis in voles but not in guinea 

 pigs or rabbits. 



Source : Isolated from naturally occurring 

 tuberculosis in the field vole, Microtus agres- 

 tis, and the bank vole, Clethrionomys glareo- 

 lus. 



Habitat: The cause of generalized tuber- 

 culosis in voles; transmissible to guinea 

 pigs, rabbits and calves, causing localized 

 infections. 



11. Mycobacterium avium Chester, 

 1901. (Tuberculose des oiseaux, Strauss and 

 Gamaleia, Arch. Med. exp. et Anat. path., 

 1891; Bacillus der Hiihnertuberculose, Maf- 

 fucci, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 11, 1892, 449; Bacillus 

 tuberculosis gallinarum Sternberg, Man. of 

 Bact., 1893, 392; Mycobacterium tuberculosis 

 aviiim Lehmann and Neumann, Bakt. Diag., 

 1 Aufl., 1, 1896, 370; Chester, Man. Determ. 

 Bact., 1901, 357; Mycobacterium tuberculosis 

 typus gallinaceus Lehmann and Neumann, 

 Bakt. Diag., 4 Aufl., 3, 1907, 553.) 



a'vi.um. L. noun avis a bird; L. gen.pl. 

 noun avium of birds. 



Common name: Avian tubercle bacillus. 



Original description supplemented by 

 material from Topley and Wilson (Princip. 

 of Bact. and Immun., London, 2nd ed., 1936, 

 315). 



Rods resembling those of the bovine type 

 of tubercle organism. 



Agar: After 4 weeks, slight, effuse, trans- 

 lucent growth with fine, granular surface. 



Glycerol agar colonies : After 3 to 4 weeks, 

 raised, regular, hemispherical, creamy or 

 white colonies. 



Dorset's egg slants: After 4 weeks, con- 

 fluent, slightljr raised growth with smooth, 

 regular surface. 



Glycerol egg slants : After 4 weeks, luxuri- 

 ant, raised, confluent, creamy to yellow 

 growth with perfectly smooth surface. 



Winn and Petroff (Jour. Exp. Med., 57, 

 1933, 239), Kahn and Schwartzkopf (Jour. 

 Bact., £5, 1933, 157), Birkhaug (Ann. Inst. 

 Past., 54, 1935, 19), Reed and Rice (Canad. 

 Jour. Res., 5, 1931, HI) and others have 

 shown variation to follow the course de- 

 scribed for many species. Winn and Petroff 

 have separated four colonial types: smooth, 

 flat smooth, rough, deep j^ellow smooth. 



These also differ in chemical and physical 

 properties. The smooth form exhibited the 

 greatest degree of virulence, the flat smooth 

 a lower virulence, while the chromogenic 

 smooth and the rough were relatively be- 

 nign. Some authors have failed to demon- 

 strate this difference in virulence. The 

 above description applies primarily to the 

 smooth form. 



Broth: After 4 weeks, very slight viscous 

 to granular bottom growth; no pellicle, no 

 turbidity. 



Glycerol broth : After 4 weeks, diffuse, tur- 

 bid growth with a viscous to granular de- 

 posit. 



Coagulated beef serum: After 4 weeks, 

 thin, effuse, grayish yellow growth with 

 smooth surface. 



Glycerol beef serum: After 4 weeks, lux- 

 uriant, raised, confluent, yellow to orange- 

 yellow or occasionally pale pink growth 

 with a smooth glistening surface. 



Glycerol potato: After 4 weeks, luxu- 

 riant, raised, confluent growth with smooth 

 to nodular surface. 



Litmus milk: Growth, but no change in 

 the milk. 



Fructose, arabinose and sucrose are uti- 

 lized; glucose is slightly utilized; galactose 

 and lactose are not utilized (Merrill, Jour. 

 Bact., £0, 1930, 235, based on the examina- 

 tion of one strain). 



Optimum temperature, 40° C; range 30° 

 to 44° C. (Bynoe, Thesis, McGill Univer- 

 sity, Montreal, 1931). 



Optimum pH, between 6.8 and 7.3 (By- 

 noe, loc. cit.). 



Pathogenicity: Produces tuberculosis in 

 domestic fowls and other birds. In pigs it 

 produces localized and sometimes dissemi- 

 nated disease. Experimentally in the rabbit, 

 guinea pig, rat and mouse it may proliferate 

 without producing macroscopic tubercles — 

 tuberculosis of the Yersin type. Man, ox, 

 goat, cat, horse, dog and monkey are not in- 

 fected. 



Antigenic structure: By agglutination, 

 absorption of agglutinins and complement 

 fixation, Mycobacterium avium maj' be dis- 

 tinguished from other members of the genus 

 (Tullock et al.. Tubercle, 6, 1924, 18, 57 and 

 105; Wilson, Jour. Path, and Bact., ^8, 

 1925, 69; Mudd, Proc. Soc. E.xp. Biol, and 



