STREPTOTHRIX MADURA 107 



cultures, remove the pus under sterile precautions, and wash the small 

 nodules or grains it contains in sterile water, and place them deep down 

 in a tube of agar. As it develops, a thin film forms round the 

 periphery, from which further nodules sometimes develop. The nodules 

 sometimes attain the size of a lentil, and rosette forms appear. 



Bouillon remains clear ; a sediment consisting of white scales forms. 



In Raw Eggs a cloudy slime forms. 



In Cooked Eggs a greasy, granular mass. 



In the cultures, usually straight, sometimes bent, rods with slightly 

 swollen ends (somewhat like the bacillus of diphtheria) are found. The 

 filament masses are present, as a rule, only in egg cultures. 



Pathogenesis. Affects guinea-pigs and rabbits by intraperitoneal 

 inoculation ; a genuine actinomycosis resulting, with the formation of 

 typical tumours. 



The differential diagnosis between this and Actinomyces bo vis 

 seems to exist only in culture peculiarities. 



STREPTOTHRIX MADURA (VINCENT) 



Found in madura foot, an ulcerative affection of the feet, rarely 

 of the hands, in the East Indies ; also in America, Morocco, and 

 Italy. 



Microscopical Appearances. The parasite consists of branched 

 threads, 1 to 1'5 p thick, which on the surface of some media present 

 filaments growing upwards, but spores are also formed in the substance 

 of the medium. 



Staining Reactions. The threads and spores stain with the usual 

 aniline dyes and by the Gram method. 



Vitality. The threads are destroyed by heating for three to five 

 minutes at 60 C., the spores at 85 C. 



Biological Characters. Strongly aerobic ; grows at ordinary 

 temperature, but best at 37 C. 



On Agar the growth is limited, while on Glycerine Agar it is luxuriant. 



Gelatine is not liquefied. 



The developing colonies are nodular, hard, yellowish-white in colour, 

 later becoming reddish. 



There is no growth on serum or in eggs. 



In Bouillon the growth is limited, granules developing slowly. 



On Acid Potatoes. Warty, at first white, later red or orange coloured 

 exuberances, studded with white threads. 



Milk is peptonised slowly. 



The growth is also very luxuriant on slightly acid vegetable infusions. 



