CHAPTER XXXIII. 

 ACTINOMYCOSIS. 



ACTINOMYCES BOVIS 



General Characteristics. A parasitic, pathogenic, aerobic and 

 optionally anaerobic, non-motile, non-flagellate, non-sporogenous (?), 

 liquefying, pathogenic, branched micro-organism, belonging to the higher 

 bacteria, staining by ordinary methods and by Gram's method. 



In 1845 Langenbeck discovered that an infectious disease 

 of cattle known as " wooden tongue " and " lumpy jaw," and 

 later as actinomycosis, could be communicated to man. 

 The observation, however, was not published until 1878, 



Fig. 262. Bovine actinomycosis. 



one year after Bollinger* had discovered the actinomyces, the 

 specific cause of the disease. 



Israeli wrote the first important paper upon actino- 

 mycosis as a disease of man, though the best paper on the 

 subject is probably that by Bostrom,J who made a careful 

 study of the microscopic lesions of the disease. 



Its first manifestations are usually found either about the 

 jaw or in the tongue, and consist of considerable sized en- 

 largements which are sometimes dense and fibrous (wooden 

 tongue), sometimes suppurative in character. In sections 

 of tissue containing these nodular formations, small yellow- 



*" Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Thiermedizin," 1877. 

 t "Virchow's Archives," 1874-78. 

 % "Zeitschrift fur Hygiene," 1889. 

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