DIPHTHEROID ORGANISMS 15 



binomial be used for the species with the emendation noted above, namely, 

 Coryn. acidum sp. nov. 



B. PSEUDODIPHTHERITICUS GAZOGENES 



This is the only gas-forming diphtheroid met with in the literature. Jacobson 

 has described it as follows : Isolated from stools of an infant. Is a vigorous 

 gas former, club-shaped with thickened ends. "One of the cultures resembled 

 streptobacilli. This character did not persist in the transplants." Gram-positive 

 and "in cultures a few days old gram-negative organisms were observed." No 

 spores. Good growth in gelatin, after 5-6 days. Litmus milk is reddened in 

 24 hours. Nqnpathogenic. From the description given by the author it does 

 not seem likely that we have to deal with one organism. Several things point 

 to the impurity of the culture. Isolation from feces, as was here the case, makes 

 such contamination all the more probable. According to the definition of a 

 diphtheroid, this organism which is here described is hardly to be reckoned as 

 one of the genus Corynebacterium. 



DIPHTHEROIDS AND ACNE VULGARIS 



Unna, in 1891, repeatedly found in lesions of acne vulgaris an organism which 

 he concluded was the cause of the disease. He did not isolate the organism in 

 pure culture, but gave it the name "Flaschenbacillus" and described it as fol- 

 lows : Unevenly staining rod having clubbed ends and showing ellipsoid forms. 

 In 1894, Hodara, in a bacteriologic study of acne, reported the presence of two 

 types of bacteria in acne lesions. One type is that of Unna and the other 

 Hodara considers as another variety which is similar in appearance but shows 

 varying morphology. For this species he used the name "Flaschen-Kugel- 

 Bacillus" ("Bacillus a Flacons-Ballons"). 



Neither of these papers goes into any detail concerning the organisms and 

 are of little, if any, value for classification purposes. The first accurate report 

 on these diphtheroids is given by Sabouraud about 3 years later. Sabouraud 

 studied the bacterial flora of the sebaceous plugs which can be squeezed out of 

 the skin. He found an organism which he claimed to be the true cause of 

 the disease according to his definition, and which he described as follows : 

 Punctiform bacillus, almost coccoid, gram-positive, less than 1 mikron in length. 

 Stains readily with anilin dyes. Requires highly acid mediums for growth. 

 Produces intense clouding in broth. Sabouraud named the organism "bacille 

 de seborrhee grasse." 



It was not until 1901, when Gilchrist made a thorough study on the bacterial 

 flora of the skin, that an adequate description is found for the bacteria which 

 were mentioned by Unna and his followers. Gilchrist's description points to 

 the identity of his organism with that of his predecessors. It is gram-positive, 

 stains unevenly and very small. It is anaerobic, although many strains were 

 found to grow aerobically after continued cultivation on artificial culture 

 mediums. Surface smears made with the material from pustules failed to show 

 growth whereas stab cultures and heavily inoculated unbroken pustules always 

 showed growth. The organism is named B. acnes by the author. We are still 

 in doubt as to the cause of acne and for this reason B. acnes as a species 

 designation may be criticized. Fleming claims to have obtained beneficial results 

 by the use of autogenous vaccines prepared from similar organisms which he 

 isolated from cases of acne. As Sabouraud pointed out these diphtheroids are 

 found in sebaceous plugs and recent observations of numerous workers as well 

 as of our own, show that these bacteria, anaerobic in character, can be isolated 



