208 PYOGENIC BACTERIA IN DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



pelves and ureters. The latter contain a dirty grayish or brownish 

 purulent, bloody fluid. The urine found in the bladder is likewise 

 purulent and hemorrhagic. The mucosa of the pelvis, ureter, and 

 bladder are covered with a thick tenacious pus and often with necrotic 

 diphtheritic masses. The disease is generally chronic, rarely acute, 

 and always terminates fatally. 



Morphology and Staining Properties. The specific bacilli are from 

 2 to 3.8 micra long and from 0.6 to 0.7 of a micron wide. They are 

 slender, generally slightly curved, non-motile, and do not form spores. 

 They stain with the watery basic anilin stains and are Gram positive. 

 They sometimes show polar granules. They may be club-shaped, and 

 occasionally form branches. 



Cultural and Biologic Properties. They are strictly aerobic and will 

 not grow on artificial culture media in the absence of oxygen. They 

 grow readily on agar and -blood serum at room temperature, better 

 in the incubator at 37 C., and form small grayish- white punctate 

 colonies with a sharp margin. In bouillon they form a fine sediment 

 after two days, the supernatant fluid remaining clear. They grow 

 neither in milk nor on potatoes, and generally not in gelatin. The 

 cultures have a tendency to die out quickly. 



The bacillus is not pathogenic to man, but it sometimes leads to 

 suppuration when injected into mice and guinea-pigs. Intravenous 

 injection in cattle after ligation of the ureter produces a typical attack 

 of pyelonephritis bo vis. The natural mode of infection in cows is 

 through the genito-urinary tract after parturition. The organism 

 may also enter the kidneys through the blood current (hematogenous 

 infection). 



BACILLUS PT06ENES SUIS. 



Occurrence and Pathogenesis. Suppuration in hogs is generally 

 caused by a specific microorganism known as the Bacillus pyogenes 

 suis. Inflammatory suppurative processes, generally confined to the 

 serous membranes, particularly the pleura, pericardium, and peri- 

 toneum, are frequently seen in hogs after they are slaughtered. The 

 membranes are thickened by inflammatory connective tissue, and 

 excrescences in the form of more or less spherical or elliptical masses 

 project beyond their surface. These masses are, as a matter of fact, 

 small abscesses surrounded by a capsule of tough, fibrous, connective 

 tissue. If incised, the abscesses discharge a thick, tenacious, yellowish- 

 green or greenish non-fetid pus. In advanced cases abscesses are 

 also found in the lymph nodes of the thorax, head, and muscles. 

 Occasionally they are found over the entire body, in all the internal 

 organs. 



Morphology and Staining Properties. The microscopic examination 

 of pus from hogs shows a short, slender, non-motile bacillus, often 

 present in very large numbers. It stains best with anilin-water 

 gentian violet or carbol-fuchsin; it is Gram negative and is not acid 



