SPIRILLA 403 



PSEUDO-CHOLERA SPIRILLUM (Renon) 



LIQUEFIES GELATINE | 



Authority. Ke'non, ' Etude sur quatre Cas de Cholera,' Annales de VInstitut 

 Pasteur,' 1 vol. vi., 1892, p. 621. 



"Where Found. In well water at Billancourt, in the vicinity of Paris. The 

 well, which was highly polluted, was near the Seine, and the water in it was at 

 the same level as that of the river. 



Microscopic Appearance. A spirillum three to four times as long and two to 

 three times as broad as Koch's cholera spirillum ; gives rise also, however, to 

 ' S ' forms. 



Cultures. 



GELATINE PLATES. Under a low power after three days the colonies are 

 small and lenticular, with rounded edges and very fine peripheral extensions ; 

 the centre is darker and yellowish in colour. On the fourth day the colony 

 becomes surrounded by a liquid zone, and after the sixth day no longer in- 

 creases in size. 



GELATINE TUBES. Liquefaction commences on the second day, and the 

 upper part of the tube becomes filled with an air bubble, immediately beneath 

 which is seen a growth about a millimetre in thickness due to the accumula- 

 tion of spirilla, whilst at the lower portion of the needle's track in the depth 

 are seen colonies arranged so as to resemble a twisted fringe. The whole con- 

 tents of the tube become fluid in from ten to twelve days. The growth much 

 resembles that of Koch's Comma spirillum, but is more rapid. 



AGAK-AGAR. At 37 C., at the end of ten hours a thick creamy-white growth 

 about a millimetre broad appears along the needle-streak. 



BROTH. At 37 C. the liquid becomes turbid in six hours, and a considerable 

 deposit has collected by the next day. On the third day a very thin pellicle 

 makes its appearance. 



Remarks. It is not pathogenic to guinea-pigs. Two people who had drunk this 

 well-water were seized with cholera, and Koch's cholera spirillum was separated out 

 from the intestinal contents and the stools of one of the victims. The water itself 

 was not collected for examination until fifteen days after the death of this patient, 

 and, although investigated on the day following its collection, no cholera organisms 

 could be found. Doubtless during the interval, and in the absence of any fresh 

 access of cholera germs to the well, the latter had become outnumbered by other 

 microbes present, ' enormous numbers ' of B. coli-communis being specially men- 

 tioned as present along with the above pseudo-cholera spirillum. 



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