CHAPTER XXXV 



VIBRIO OR CHOLERA SPIRILLUM GROUP 



ONE organism, pathogenic for animals, Spirillum metchnikovi 

 and one pathogenic for man, Spirillum cholerce, and numerous 

 non-pathogenic forms isolated from various sources have been 

 described as belonging to this group. 



The organisms of this group are more or less bent rods, usually 

 only a segment of a spiral, rarely showing one or more complete 

 turns. All are motile, aerobic, gram-negative, and without spores. 



Spirillum metchnikovi 



Synonyms. Vibrio metchnikovi; Microspira metchnikovi. 



Disease Produced. Septicemia of fowls. 



Gamaleia, in 1888, described this organism from an epizootic of 

 fowl septicemia which occurred in Russia. What appears to be the 

 same organism was later (1894) 

 isolated by Pfuhl from water. -^^, , ? 



Distribution. This organism 'C *-<<* ^%?> ( 



does not seem to have been ^cVici 



isolated from such a disease f j % 



by any investigator since the ^ * v 



original work of Gamaleia. ^ _ - ^ --, 





This latter, however, was suf- &* 



\ '* , ^ *-T5^^ 



ficient to establish its etiologic * % ^^ J ^' \* " ; s ^ M * 

 relation to the disease. It is \* f ^ A ^r^^\ 



possible that the disease is 



/ / "^ 



more widely spread than the ; ,- d* 



literature would indicate, inas- Fig l55 ^ s ^riUum metchnikon 

 much as poultry diseases are in (Gimther). 



need of careful investigation. 



Morphology and Staining. It is a curved rod, with rounded 

 ends, or sometimes a spiral filament. It is actively motile by a 



