CHAPTER XL 



THE BACILLUS MELITENSIS (MICROCOCCUS MELITENSIS), BACILLUS 

 BRONCHISEPTICUS, BACILLUS OF CATTLE ABORTION, BACILLUS 

 OF GUINEA-PIG PNEUMONIA, AND THE BACILLUS PYOCYANEUS. 



MALTA FEVER AND THE BACILLUS MELITENSIS 



MALTA fever probably has its endemic focus in the Mediterranean 

 islands and along the Mediterranean coast. From here it appears 

 to have spread into continental Europe, France, Italy and Spain 

 and into the Balkans. Naturally enough it has been found to occur 

 in Northern Africa and cases have been reported along the East 

 African coast. Castellani and Chalmers 1 state that it has also been 

 found in parts of Russia, in South Africa, in Uganda, China and 

 the Philippines and in North and South America and in the West 

 Indies. Castellani also has reported cases from Ceylon. 



It appears, thus, that the disease is very widely distributed, but 

 centralizes chiefly about the Mediterranean, being most common in 

 the warmer temperate and subtropical climates. Studies on its dis- 

 tribution have been made particularly by Bassett-Smith, 2 who has 

 mapped its distribution throughout the world. A reproduction of 

 his map may be found in Castellani and Chalmer's book. 



Morphology. The micrococcus melitensis is an extremely small 

 bacterium which has been described both as a bacillus and a coccus. 

 It has been the custom of bacteriologists who have studied it more 

 recently to regard it as a bacillus and speak of it as the Bacillus 

 Melitensis. Eyre 3 describes it as an extremely small coccus which 

 has bacillary forms on various media which he regards as involution 

 forms. It is Gram-negative and non-motile and does not form spores. 

 In cultures it appears both singly and in short chains of two or 

 more. Chains of any considerable length are uncommon. 



1 Castellani and Chalmers, Textbook of Tropical Medicine, William Wood & Co., 

 N. Y., 1919. 



2 Bassett-Smith, British Med. Jour., 2, 1904. 



3 Eyre, Kolle and Wassermann Handb., Second Edition, Vol. 4, 421. 



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