THE COLON -TYPHOID GROUP 95 



Organisms Resembling Gartner's Bacillus. 



Para-Gartner Bacilli (or pseudo-Gartner bacilli). 



Savage has described a number of organisms in the healthy 

 human and animal feces, that can only be distinguished 

 from true Gartner bacilli by extended schemes of fer- 

 mentation reactions and by their failure to agglutinate 

 with sera from animals immunised to Gartner bacilli. 



Bacillus Paratyphosus p. The paratyphoid bacillus /3 

 is similar to B. enteriiidis (Gartner) in cultural reactions, 

 and, like the latter, produces a toxin that withstands 

 100 C. for thirty minutes. While generally producing 

 symptoms like those of a mild typhoid infection, it has 

 been held responsible for some meat-poisoning outbreaks. 

 Savage, while not disputing the possibility of this organism 

 causing food-poisoning outbreaks, showed that where 

 B. paratyphosus /3 has caused acute gastro- enteritis 

 simulating a food-poisoning outbreak, the cases were 

 connected, not by a common food supply, but by con- 

 tact with a source of infection probably human. In the 

 Cholet outbreak, Chantemesse found the bacilli in the 

 confectioner's cream supplied for the wedding breakfast, 

 and ascertained that the confectioner was a paratyphoid 

 carrier. 



Bacillus Paratyphosus a. Like the /3 bacillus, this 

 organism produces symptoms resembling mild typhoid, 

 but it is much less frequent than the /3 bacillus. 



In their reactions the paratyphoid bacillus a stands 

 nearer the typhoid bacillus than does the paratyphoid 

 bacillus /3. Group a produces less gas in glucose media 

 than group 13. Milk remains permanently acid with 

 group a; with group /3 it becomes alkaline after an initial 

 acidity. Though group a changes neutral-red to yellow, 

 the red colour returns after three weeks or so, while with 

 group /3 the yellow colour is permanent. 



In paratyphoid fever, whether caused by a or /3 bacilli, 

 the organism may be found in the blood and fseces. The 

 'mortality is low (less than 3 per cent.), and in the autopsy 

 the characteristic typhoid ulcerations of the Peyer's 

 patches are absent. Milk and meat are supposed to have 

 conveyed the infection, and the organisms have been 

 isolated from water. 



