522 TREPONEMATA AND SPIROCHETA 



field illumination they are golden yellow, contrasting in this respect 

 with the pale yellow appearance of Treponema pallidum. The stain- 

 ing reactions are similar to those of Treponema pallidum. 



Isolation and Culture. Noguchi was the first to grow Treponema 

 refringens in pure culture using the ag'ar ascitic fluid tissue medium 

 with which he isolated Treponema pallidum. The organism is a 

 strict anaerobe, but it may be obtained in the agar ascitic medium 

 without the sterile tissue, although the growth is much more feeble 

 when the tissue is omitted from the medium. The original growths 

 from lesion to artificial media are usually contaminated with other 

 organisms. Purification is accomplished by the same technic as that 

 used for purifying Treponema pallidum. Pure cultures of Treponema 

 refringens produce no odor in growths on artificial media. 



FIG. 76. Treponema recurrentis. (Kolle and Hetsch.) 



Pathogenesis. The organism was found to be non-pathogenic for 

 rabbits and monkeys. 1 



Relapsing Fever. The disease known as relapsing fever was 

 described by Obermeier in 1878; he recognized the organism which 

 received his name, Spirocheta obermeieri, now called Treponema 

 recurrentis, in the blood of his patients. Obermeier's observations 

 were made in Europe. Somewhat later the disease was observed in 

 India by Carter, in Africa by Koch, and in America by Norris, Pap- 

 penheimer and Fluornoy. In 1896 Novy showed that the organisms 

 found respectively in the relapsing fevers of Europe, India, Africa 

 and America exhibited constant morphological differences which war- 

 rant their tentative separation into four distinct types : the European, 



Uour. Exp. Med., 1912, xv, 90. 



