474 



Diphtheria 



BACILLI RESEMBLING THE DIPHTHERIA BACILLUS. 

 BACILLUS HOFMANNI. 



The pseudodiphtheria bacillus (bacillus of Hofmann- 

 Wellenhof*) Bacillus pseudodiphthericus was first found 

 by L/offlerf in diphtheria pseudomembranes and in the 

 healthy mouth and pharynx. Ohlmacher has found it with 

 other bacteria in pneumonia ; Babes, in gangrene of the lung ; 

 and Howard, t in a case of ulcerative endocarditis not suc- 

 ceeding diphtheria. 



" x \ 





*"*4 



J*< v ' ' 



# 



%' . 



> ^ 



.\ - . *, 



*. ^-""V:"6 ' ^ 



' ' - 



Fig- 153- Pseudodiphtheria bacilli. 



Park found that all bacilli with the typical morphology 

 of the diphtheria bacillus, found in the human throat, are 

 virulent Klebs-L/ofrler bacilli, while forms found in the throat 

 closely resembling them, but more uniform in size and shape, 

 shorter in length, and of more homogeneous staining proper- 

 ties with Loffler's alkaline methylene-blue solution, can with 

 reasonable safety be regarded as pseudodiphtheria bacilli, 

 especially if it be found that they produce an alkaline rather 

 than an acid reaction by their growth in bouillon. The 

 pseudodiphtheria bacilli were found in about i per cent, of 



* "Wiener klin. Woch.," 1888, No. 3. 

 t "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," n, 105. 

 t "Bull, of the Johns Hopkins Hospital," 1893, 30. 

 "Scientific Bulletin No. i," Health Department, city of New 

 York, 1895. 



