CHAPTER XVI. 



THE COCCACE^: AND THEIR PARASITIC RELATION- 

 SHIPS. 



Diplococcus Gonorrheae. The gonococcus was discovered 

 by Neisser 1 in 1879 in the discharge of acute urethritis and he 

 recognized its probable causal relationship to the disease. Cul- 

 tures were first obtained by Bumm 2 in 1885 and he proved the 

 relationship by inoculating the human urethra with his cultures. 

 The organism naturally lives and multiplies only in the human 

 body and is the microbic cause of gonorrhea and many of its 

 complicating inflammations. 



The gonococcus is found in both the serum and the poly- 

 nuclear cells of the purulent discharge, usually in pairs with the 

 adjacent surfaces flattened. The long diameter of the pair is 

 about i. 25/4. It stains readily, best perhaps with Loffler's 

 methylene-blue. It is decolorized when stained by Gram's 

 method, a fact of great importance in the quick recognition of 

 the organism. The staining procedure has to be carefully carried 

 out and a beginner should practice upon cultures of the gonococcus 

 and upon samples of gonorrheal pus and staphylococcus pus 

 before placing too much reliance upon the appearance of his 

 Gram-stained preparation. The reaction to the Gram stain, 

 together with the remarkably characteristic appearance of the 

 pus cell full of diplococci are usually sufficient for the recogni- 

 tion of the organism in acute urethritis. 



Cultures of the gonococcus were obtained by Bumm on coagu- 

 lated human blood serum. Wertheim 3 employed serum agar 



1 Neisser: Centralbl. f. d. med. Wissenschaft, 1879, Bd. XVII, S. 497-500. 



2 Bumm: Deutsche med. Wochenschr., 1885, Bd. II, S. 910 and 911. 



3 Deutsche med. Wochenschr., 1891, Bd. XVII, S. 958; S. 1351 and 1352. 



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