CHAPTEK IX. 



SPIRILLUM CHOLEK^: ASIATICS. 



THIS organism, also known as the cholera vibrio^ or the 

 comma bacillus of Koch, was discovered in 1883 in the dejecta 

 and intestines of cholera patients. It is the accepted specific 

 cause of Asiatic cholera. It is never found in the healthy 



FIG. 103. 



Spirillum of Asiatic cholera, from a bouillon culture three weeks old, showing 

 numbers of long spirals. X 1000. (Fraenkel and Pfeiffer.) 



human body nor in any other part of the cholera patient 

 except the intestines and their contents. 



Morphology and biology : The cholera bacillus is a very small, 

 slightly bent rod, with rounded ends, and resembles a comma, 

 whence its name (Fig. 103). When two of these organisms 



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