694 Tuberculosis 



Isolation and cultivation of these organisms is easy, and more than any other 

 measure serves to differentiate them from the tubercle bacillus, as they grow upon 

 nearly all the culture-media with rapidity and luxuriance. 



PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS 



BACILLUS PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS 



Pfeiffer,* Malassez and Vignal,f Eberth,{ Chantemesse, Charrin, and 

 Roger|| have all reported cases of so-called pseudotuberculosis occurring in 

 guinea-pigs, and characterized by the formation of cellular nodules in the liver and 

 kidneys much resembling miliary tubercles. Cultures made from them showed 

 the presence of a small motile bacillus which could easily be stained by ordinary 

 methods. When introduced subcutaneously into guinea-pigs, the original disease 

 was reproduced. 



Morphology and Cultivation. Bacillus pseudotuberculosis is characterized by 

 Pfeiffer as follows: The organisms are rod-shaped, the rods varying in length (0.4 

 to 1.2 ju) and sometimes united in chains. They may be almost round, and then 



p m <^t * *"* * *^ * ^w w t* ^ - 



^i^lpy 



Fig. 281. Bacillus pseudotuberculosis from agar-agar. X 1000 

 (Itzerott and Niemann.) 



resemble diplococci. They stain by ordinary methods, but not by Gram's 

 method. They are motile and have flagella like the typhoid and colon bacilli. 

 They form no spores. Upon gelatin and agar-agar, circular colonies with a dark 

 nucleus surrounded by a transparent zone are formed. In gelatin punctures the 

 bacilli grow all along the line of puncture and form a surface growth with concen- 

 tric markings. The gelatin is not liquefied. The bacilli grow readily upon agar 

 and on potato, but without characteristic appearances. In bouillon a diffuse 

 turbidity occurs, with floating and suspended flakes. Milk is not altered. 



Pathogenesis. The bacillus is fatal to mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, hares, and 

 other rodents in about twenty days after inoculation. At the seat of inoculation 

 an abscess develops, the neighboring lymphatic glands enlarge and caseate, and 

 nodules resembling tubercles form in the internal organs. Similar bacilli studied 

 by Pfeiffer were isolated from a horse supposed to have glanders. 



'Bacillare tuberculose, u. s. w.," Leipzig, 1889. 



' Archiv de Physiol. norm. et. Path.," 1883 and 1884. 



Virchow's Archiv," Bd. en. 



Ann. de 1'Inst. Pasteur," 1887. 



Compte-rendu de 1'Acad. des Sci.," Paris, t. cvi. 



