BACILLI SIMILAR TO THE DIPHTHERIA BACILLUS 405 



tiva and the nasal secretion. The morphological similarity between 

 Bacillus hofmanni and Bacillus xerosis has doubtless led to confusion 

 in the past. Knapp 1 has studied the fermentation reactions of the 

 group and has shown that within the diphtheria group three cultural 

 types are recognizable, as follows: 



Dextrose. Saccharose. 



Bacillus diphtherise acid alkaline 



Bacillus hofmanni alkaline alkaline 



Bacillus xerosis acid acid 



Bacillus Hodgkini. Hodgkin's disease, a malignant granulomatous 

 lymphatic infection long regarded as a special type of infection with 

 the tubercle bacillus, is now generally regarded as an infectious entity 



FIG. 57. Pseudodiphtheria bacilli. (Park.) 



quite apart from tuberculosis. The etiology remained obscure until 

 Negri and Mieremet 2 published a description of a pleiomorphic, diph- 

 theroid bacillus obtained from two undoubted cases. The organism, 

 which was found to be Gram-positive, received the name Corynebac- 

 terium granulomatis maligni. Bunting and Yates 3 have recovered 

 a similar pleiomorphic bacillus from several cases of Hodgkin's disease. 

 Initial cultures were obtained upon Dorset's egg medium. Subse- 

 quent development upon ordinary media gave the following cultural 

 reactions: gelatin not liquefied; little or no change in litmus milk; 

 an adherent growth in broth tubes with the gradual accumulation of 

 a slimy sediment. The colonies upon serum and agar are not 

 characteristic. 



1 Jour. Med. Research, November, 1904, vol. xii, 475. 



2 Centralbl. f. Bakt., Orig., 1913, Ixviii, 292. 



3 Arch. Int. Med., 1913, xii, 236. See also Bull. Johns Hopkins Hosp., 1915, xxvi, 

 376, for relation of pseudodiphtheria bacilli to leukemia, pseudoleukepiia, and Banti's 

 disease. 



