CHAPTER XIV 



ASIATIC CHOLERA SPIRILLUM METCHNTKOVI SPIRILLUM 

 OF FINKLER AND PRIOR SPIRILLUM TYROGENUM 

 SPIRILLUM RUBRUM 



Asiatic Cholera 



THE bacteriological study of Asiatic cholera may be said to date 

 from the researches of Koch, who in 1884 was sent by the German 

 Government to investigate the disease in Egypt and India. He 

 described an organism present in the intestine and in the dejecta 

 which he believed to be the specific contagium, and named it the 

 " comma bacillus " from its curved shape like a German comma. 

 " Koch's comma bacillus," as it is commonly termed, is a curved 

 rod or vibrio, by some placed in the genus Spirillum. 



Spirillum [Vibrio] cholera (asiaticae) 



Morphology. Curved rods with rounded ends 1 to 2 p 

 in length, sometimes forming half a circle, sometimes 

 united in pairs forming an S-shaped curve (Plate XX, a). 

 It is present in the intestine and in the alvine discharges, 

 especially in the rice-like flakes. In the rice-like flakes 

 it is frequently so numerous that in a film the " commas " 

 are arranged in " ranks and files " parallel to one another ; 

 this is also known as the " fish-in-stream " arrangement. 

 Greig 1 found in six recently passed stools from 145 to 

 2,000 million vibrios per c.c. 



The vibrio is ordinarily found only in the intestine, but 

 Greig has occasionally isolated it post-mortem from the 



1 Greig's papers on cholera will be found in the Indian Journ. Med. 

 Research, vol. i et seq. 



