BLOOD CULTURES AND BLOOD PARASITES 415 



does not show agglutination with a known typhoid serum. Anthrax and glanders 

 should be considered in blood cultures. 



In Malta fever it must be remembered that colonies do not show themselves 

 for several days. Addition of blood to melted agar is a good procedure. 



Blood for culturing typhoid or the paratyphoids may be taken with 

 a Wright's tube from the ear or finger. Dipping the hand in hot 

 water assists the flow of blood. The supernatant serum after centrif u- 

 galization should be pipetted off with a sterile pipette and reserved 

 for agglutination tests while the clot is dropped into a bile tube. (Clot 

 culture.) 



Rosenberger was the first to insist upon the importance of examination of blood 

 for T. B. Brem considered that many cases of finding of acid-fast bacilli were not 

 of T. B. The Kurashigi-Schnitter method for tubercle bacilli in blood is to take 

 about i c.c. blood and put in a centrifuge tube containing 5 c.c. of 3% acetic acid. 

 After the red cells are thoroughly laked centrifuge, pipette off supernatant fluid and 

 dissolve the sediment in 5 c.c. antiformin. When dissolved add 5 c.c. absolute 

 alcohol and centrifugalize for twenty minutes. Smear out the sediment and stain. 



The examination of the blood for the parasites of malaria, filariases, kala-azar 

 and spirillum fevers has been discussed under their respective headings. 



With trypanosomes from human trypanosomiasis, smears from gland juice or 

 cerebrospinal fluid seem more satisfactory to examine then blood smears unless the 

 blood is taken in 5 to 10 c.c. quantities and centrifuged in sodium citrate salt 

 solution. 



The latest method in the diagnosis of trichinosis is to take 5 to 10 c.c. of blood 

 from a vein at the time of the migration of the embryos to the muscles (ten to twenty 

 days). This is forced out into a centrifuge tube containing 3% acetic acid, and 

 the sediment examined for trichina larvae. 



