484 ANAEROBIC BACTERIA 



units have been injected locally, intraneurally or subdurally, depend- 

 ing upon the condition of the patient and the time which has elapsed 

 since infection took place. The results are usually unsatisfactory if 

 symptoms of tetanus have developed, but the treatment should be 

 carried out energetically. 



BOTULISM OR ALLANTIASIS. 



A rather definite train of symptoms consisting of gastro-intestinal 

 irritation, nervous disturbances, bulbar paralysis, dysplagia and 

 protrusion of the eyeballs with, however, no fever, has occasionally 

 followed the consumption of uncooked or imperfectly cooked meats 

 or fish. Uncooked products, particularly ham and sausages, are 

 more commonly the source of these intoxications. The mortality is 

 fairly high in such cases, amounting to as much as 25 per cent, in 

 various epidemics. Patients retain consciousness to the end as a 

 rule. 



The best-studied epidemic of this type was one which occurred in 

 Ellezelles, Belgium. Von Ermengem 1 investigated this epidemic very 

 thoroughly and found that all the cases had partaken of an imper- 

 fectly cured ham, from which he isolated an organism which he called 

 B. botulinus. He established the relationship of the organism to the 

 disease which resulted from the ingestion of the toxins of this bacillus 

 by animal experimentation. 



Morphology. Bacillus botulinus is a rather large bacillus, measuring 

 from 0.9 to 1.2 microns in diameter by 4 to 6 microns in length, with 

 rounded ends; it occurs singly or in pairs, less commonly in short 

 chains of three to six elements. Old cultures of this organism and those 

 incubated above 36 C. show involution forms which are usually long, 

 intertwined filaments. The organism is sluggishly motile and has 

 from 4 to 8 peritrichic flagella. It forms oval spores, slightly greater 

 in diameter than the rod and situated near one end of it. The organism 

 stains readily with anilin dyes and is Gram-positive. 



Isolation and Culture. Bacillus botulinus grows most characteris- 

 tically in slightly alkaline dextrose gelatin incubated at 25 C. under 

 strictly anaerobic conditions. The colonies, which grow with moderate 

 rapidity, are light yellow in color, nearly transparent, and are com- 

 posed of coarse granules. These granules after a few hours' growth 

 exhibit a slow but constant motion in a zone of liquefied gelatin. As 



1 Centralbl, f. Bakt., 1896, xix, 442; Ztschr. f. Hyg., 1897, xxvi, 1. 



