BACILLUS BOVISEPTICUS 225 



and Hiippe, in 1886, to study it in detail. The disease has since been 

 found in various parts of Germany, Austria, and other countries 

 of Europe, the United States, Indo-China, the Malayan Peninsula, 

 Java, Hongkong, the Philippine Islands, and also in Algiers, in Africa. 



Pathologic Lesions. The pathologic lesions are those of a hemor- 

 rhagic septicemia; namely, general congestion, petechial hemorrhages, 

 and ecchymoses into the mucous and serous membranes and internal 

 organs. The liver and kidneys are swollen and cloudy, but the spleen, 

 unlike its condition in anthrax with which this hemorrhagic septi- 

 cemia may be confounded, is not enlarged, and has either a general 

 normal appearance or contains multiple, circumscribed hemorrhages. 

 In the so-called exanthematous or edematous form the subcutaneous 

 connective tissue of the head and neck contains a watery and partly 

 hemorrhagic infiltration. The tongue is frequently more or less 

 enlarged, dark or dirty brown red, and of a firm consistency. The 

 mucous membranes of the mouth and upper respiratory tract and 

 the retropharyngeal and cervical glands are swollen. The mucosa of 

 the intestinal tract is also swollen and hemorrhagic. In some 

 cases the lungs show not merely congestion, but areas of consoli- 

 dation, and the pericardium, in addition to the pericardial hemor- 

 rhages, may show the signs of a fibrinous inflammation. Reynolds 

 reported an outbreak of the disease in Minnesota in which meningeal 

 lesions of the brain and cord were very marked. The disease is caused 

 by the Bacillus pluriformis of Kitt, now more generally known as the 

 Bacillus bovisepticus. 



Morphology and Staining Properties. The bacillus possesses the 

 same morphologic and staining properties as the Bacillus avisep- 

 ticus. It is from 0.6 to 1 micron long, sometimes a little larger, and 

 0.3 micron wide. It is found in considerable numbers in the blood 

 of animals in the last stages of the disease or in those dead from it, 

 and in enormous numbers in the blood of artificially infected rabbits 

 or mice, which are exceedingly susceptible. It often appears in the 

 blood in short chains. In doubtful cases the diagnosis should not 

 be made until rabbits or mice have been inoculated. These die in 

 from twelve to twenty-four hours. 



Cultural Properties. Wilson and Brimhall describe the cultural 

 properties as follows : The organism is aerobic, but prefers the depth 

 rather than the surface of the medium. It grows best at the body 

 temperature and more slowly at room temperature. In ordinary 

 nutrient and in glucose bouillon a heavy growth appears in twenty- 

 four hours. In Dunham's solution a small amount of indol is formed 

 in forty-eight hours. Milk is not coagulated. In gelatin plates small, 

 white, granular colonies appear after forty-eight hours. In gelatin 

 stab cultures a light growth occurs on the surface, while along the 

 needle track numerous colonies like those in the deep portions of the 

 plate develop in the culture. The organism grows on neutral but 

 not on acid potatoes. 

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