TREPONEMATA 529 



relationship to genital ulcerations, phagedenic ulcers, and noma is 

 not satisfactorily established. Noguchi 1 has isolated a spiral organism 

 in pure culture from a phagedenic ulcer, using the technic employed 

 by him for cultivation of Treponema pallidum. This organism is the 

 only member of the group observed in genital ulcerations and phage- 

 denic ulcers which has been satisfactorily studied up to the present 

 time. 



Morphology. The organism measures about 0.75 micron in diameter 

 and about 15 microns in length, although the length varies between 

 the limits of 4 and 30 microns. The number of spirals varies materially 

 in different organisms in the same culture, from two complete turns 

 to as many as eight. The ends of the organisms are found to be 

 distinctly pointed, but not attenuated. In young cultures the organ- 

 isms were found to be fairly uniform in size, from 10 to 15 microns 

 long. In older growths the length is greater on the average, varying 

 from 20 to 30 microns. The number of spiral turns and the spiral 

 turns themselves are more irregular in the older growths. This 

 organism appears to be devoid of a terminal flagellum or a terminal 

 projection. In very old cultures signs of degeneration appear, and 

 spherical bodies measuring about 0.5 micron in diameter are found 

 either attached to degenerating organisms or free. These spherical 

 bodies do not take the spore stain. In addition various semi-spherical 

 bodies, some exhibiting refractile dots in their substance, are also 

 found in old cultures, but none of these bodies appear to be spores in 

 the ordinary sense. 



Treponema phagedenis stains with difficulty by the more penetrat- 

 ing anilin dyes, and it is Gram-negative. It is colored red with the 

 Giemsa stain. The organism is obligately anaerobic, and cultures in 

 artificial media develop an odor suggesting butyric acid. 



Pathogenesis. Noguchi found that pure cultures of Treponema 

 phagedenis produce an acute inflammatory reaction at the site of 

 inoculation (intradermal) both in monkeys and rabbits, but this 

 inflammatory area does not ulcerate. Hoffmann and Prowazek 2 

 inoculated two monkeys with material from a case of balanitis rich in 

 organisms. They found some erosion had taken place at the site of 

 inoculation after two to three days, with numerous spiral organisms 

 in the lesion. Noguchi did not consider that his observations estab- 

 lished the relationship of his organism to the lesion, and the experiments 

 of Hoffmann and Prowazek are not conclusive. 



i Jour. Exp. Med., 1912, xvi, 261. 2 Loc. cit., p. 818. 



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