THE GLANDERS BACILLUS 1/17 



bacillus, and growth is difficult except on serum agar 

 (ininute transparent colonies) or ascitic fluid glycerin 

 agar. It is not pathogenic for animals. 



The Bacillus of Whooping-Cough (Bordet and 

 Gengou). 



B. pertussis has much the same characters as the influ- 

 enza bacillus. It is a strictly aerobic small cocco-bacillus, 

 non- motile, negative to Gram, and staining feebly with 

 methylene and toluidene blues. The best medium is 

 agar, with which has been mixed a large proportion of 

 blood drawn off aseptically. The serum of patients who 

 have recovered from the disease shows specific reactions 

 to this organism. The serum of patients suffering from 

 this disease agglutinates the bacillus sometimes in as much 

 as a sixty-four-fold dilution, and gives the complement 

 deviation method of Bordet-Gengou. 



The Glanders Bacillus. 



Morphology. B. mallei is a straight or slightly curved 

 rod, 2]n to 5// long, with rounded ends. Stained prepara- 

 tions may show beading or bipolar staining. From the 

 production of long filaments with swollen ends and ex- 

 hibiting lateral branching, some regard it as belonging 

 to the Trichomycetes, It does not form spores, and is 

 non-motile, though an active Brownian movement is 

 present in broth cultures. Its thermal death-point is 

 55 C. (Loffler). 



Cultural Characters. The glanders bacillus grows 

 slowly on gelatin without liquefaction, and readily oit 

 glycerin agar as a creamy layer. On potato the growth, 

 which is apparent in three to four days, at first has the 

 appearance of drops of honey, but later on deepens in 

 colour and becomes thicker, and eventually darker, till 

 it approaches a chocolate colour. The potato itself 

 remains unstained. 



Staining Characters. B. mallei is Gram-negative, is 

 not acid-fast and does not readily stain with ordinary 

 dyes. Smears of glanders pus or material are best 

 stained, according to McFadyean, with methylene blue, 

 and then treated with 4 to 5 per cent, acetic acid for a few 

 seconds, which decolorises the nuclear detritus, but still 



