552 PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS 



reliable methods of recognition of the gonococcus. Of 60 strains exam- 

 ined by him, all except one fermented glucose, and none of them fer- 

 mented maltose, thus -differentiating from meningococcus. The one 

 exception was an old strain, all the recent ones fermenting true to type. 



A gonococcus can, therefore, be recognized bacteriologically by the 

 Gram-negative diplococcus form, the typical colony formation on 

 ascitic agar, its failure to grow on simpler media or at room temperature, 

 its ability to split dextrose and failure to split maltose. 



Resistance. Recent cultures of gonococcus, if not transplanted, 

 usually die out within five of six days at incubator temperature. At 

 room temperature they die more rapidly. 



The resistance of the gonococcus to light and heat is slight. A tem- 

 perature of 41 to 42 kills it after a brief exposure. Complete drying 

 destroys it in a short time. Incompletely dried, however, and pro- 

 tected from light (gonorrheal pus) it may live, on sheets and clothing, 

 for as long as eighteen to twenty-four hours. 14 



It is easily killed by most disinfectant solutions 15 in high dilution 

 and seems to be almost specifically sensitive to the various silver salts, 

 a fact of therapeutic importance. 



Pathogenicity. Gonorrheal infection occurs spontaneously only 

 in man. True gonorrheal urethritis has never been experimentally pro- 

 duced in animals. In human beings, apart from the infection in the 

 male and female genital tracts, and in the conjunctive, the gonococcus 

 may produce cystitis, proctitis, and stomatitis. It may enter the cir- 

 culation, giving rise to septicemia, 16 to endocarditis and arthritis. Iso- 

 lated cases of gonorrheal periostitis and osteomyelitis have been 

 reported. 17 



The acute infections of the genito-urinary passages are often fol- 

 lowed by prolonged chronic infection, which, though quiescent, may for 

 many years be a source of social danger. In children, especially females, 

 the infection is not rare, and may assume epidemic characters, traveling 

 from bed to bed in institutions. Such hospital epidemics can be stopped 

 only by the. most rigid isolation. This is more specifically dealt with 

 in the paragraphs on Sanitary Considerations, below. 



While inoculation of animals has never resulted in active prolifera- 

 tion of the gonococcus upon the new host, local necrosis, suppuration, 



14 Heiman, Medical Eecord, 1896. 



15 Schaeffcr und Steinschn eider, Kong. Deut. Dermat. Geselis., Breslau, 1894. 

 16 Eeview of cases of Gon. Septicemia, Faure-Beaulieu, Thesis, Paris, 1906. 

 > 7 Ullmann, Wien. med. Presse, 1900. 



