452 THE BACTERIA OF MEAT-POISONING 



Van Ermengem, Gaffky and Paak, Neelsen and Johne, and others, 

 have also studied similar outbreaks. They found a bacillus acting 

 through a poison which is not even destroyed by boiling the infected 

 meat, as the cause of a certain form of meat-poisoning. This organism 

 is known as the Bacillus enteritidis of Gartner. It belongs to the 

 typhoid-colon group. It is a short bacterium, and is frequently of 

 ovoid form, not longer than 0.2 to 0.4 micron, and generally arranged 

 in pairs. It often stains unequally, more at the poles, and then 

 resembles' an organism of the hemorrhagic septicemia group. It is 

 Gram negative, motile, and provided with four to eight, sometimes 

 ten or twelve long flagella. These cannot be well stained by Loeffler's 

 method, but they can be demonstrated by the silvering method of 

 Van Ermengem. 



Cultural Properties. The superficial colonies on gelatin are variable 

 in form and often cannot be distinguished from the colonies of the 

 Bacillus coli, though they are generally more transparent and more 

 regular at the periphery. The organism does not form indol or in 

 traces only. It does not coagulate milk, but causes it to become 

 decidedly alkaline after ten days, and also more transparent and 

 yellowish in color. It ferments glucose, lactose, galactose, maltose, 

 saccharose, and also glycerin. Bouillon becomes rapidly clouded, and 

 an easily torn pellicle is formed on the surface. It does not produce 

 a fecal smell like the colon bacillus. The growth on potatoes varies. 

 It is sometimes invisible like that of the typhoid bacillus, at other 

 times dirty yellowish or brownish like that of the colon bacillus. It 

 grows quite well in Petruschky's litmus whey without much acid 

 production or color changes. In Rotberger's neutral-red agar, 

 containing 0.3 per cent, glucose, the color disappears and gas is 

 produced after eighteen to twenty-four hours. On the Drigalski- 

 Conradi medium bluish colonies somewhat larger and less transparent 

 than those of the tyhoid bacillus are formed after sixteen to eighteen 

 hours. 



Toxin Production and Other Properties. The Bacillus enteritidis is 

 distinguished from all other bacteria of the typhoid-colon group by 

 its property of forming diffusible toxins, which are very resistant to 

 higher temperatures. The bacilli, when introduced in small quan- 

 tities into the stomachs of small animals or injected subcutaneously 

 intravenously or intraperitoneally have a fatal effect. Such susceptible 

 animals are mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, monkeys, calves, etc. The 

 organism produces local inflammatory conditions in the serous 

 membranes, and also a general septicemia, and it can be found in 

 considerable numbers, particularly in the muscles. The toxin, even 

 if it has been heated to the boiling point of water, produces the same 

 pathologic lesions in the intestines, the kidneys, and in the serous 

 membrane in general. Whether the Bacillus enteritidis is a single 

 species or whether there are several nearly related varieties is a point 

 not yet fully settled. It appears that at least one of the varieties of 



