328 MICROBIOLOGY 



found in perfectly healthy human beings.* Uhlenhuth 10 and 

 others have frequently found B. suipestifer or B. paratyphus 

 B in the normal contents of the intestines of pigs. 



BACILLUS TETANI NICOLAIER. 



Synonyms. Bacillus of lock jaw. 



Place in nature. This bacillus is the cause of tetanus or 

 lock jaw. All species of animals seem to be susceptible al- 

 though horses and the human family suffer most from it. 

 Tetanus has been recognized as a distinct affection for many 

 centuries. In 1884 Carlo and Rattone produced tetanus in 

 rabbits by inoculating them with pus from a cutaneous lesion 

 of a human case. Nicolaier * produced the disease by inocu- 

 lating mice and rabbits with soil. In 1889 Kitasato 2 isolated 

 the bacillus in pure culture and was able to reproduce the 

 disease with it. 



The bacilli of tetanus are widely distributed in the soil. 

 It is stated by Park 3 that it is present in the intestines of 

 -about 85% of the horses and calves living in the vicinity 

 x)f New York City. It is believed by some that its normal 

 habitat is in the intestine of the herbivora. Joseph 4 concluded 

 from his investigations that 100% of old cattle have tetanus 

 bacilli in their intestinal tract. It is much more numerous in 

 the soil in some localities than others. There are areas in 

 which tetanus in horses especially is very common after punc- 



* Danysz states that in 1903-04 600,000 liters of cultures of the 

 Danysz bacillus were distributed in France for the purpose of de- 

 stroying field mice and for more than ten years some hundreds of 

 liters of the virus have been distributed every week for the destruc- 

 tion of rats and that among the large number of people who have 

 -'handled the virus no infection has been known to occur. 



19 Uhlenhuth. Berl. Militaer. Aerzliche Gesellschaft, May 21, 

 1908. Cited by Danysz. 



1 Nicolaier. Deut. Med. Woch., 1884, No. 52; Inaugural Diss., 

 (Gottingen, 1885. 



2 Kitasato. Zeit. f. Hygiene, Bd. VII (1889) p. 225. 



3 Park. loc. cit., p. 235. 



4 Joseph. Zeit. f. Infektionsk. u. Hygiene der Haustiere, Bd. VII 

 '<1910) p. 97. 



