CHAPTER XIV 



ASIATIC CHOLERA SPIRILLUM METCHNIKOVI SPIRIL- 

 LUM OF FINKLER AND PRIOR SPIRILLUM TYRO- 

 GENUM 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 termed it the 

 " comma bacillus " .from its curved shape. This name is a mis- 

 leading one, for the organism is not shaped like a printer's comma, 

 but is a curved rod or vibrio, by some placed in the genus spirillum ; 

 however, it is commonly known as " Koch's comma bacillus." 



Spirillum (Vibrio) choleras asiaticae 



Morphology. Curved rods with rounded ends 1 to 2 JUL 

 in length, sometimes forming half a circle, sometimes 

 united in pairs forming an S-shaped curve (Plate XVII I. a). 

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

 especially in the rice- like flakes, but is not found in the 

 blood, organs, or tissues. (Greig has twice isolated the 

 organism from pneumonic patches in the lungs and 

 suggests that in a certain percentage of cases blood- 

 infection may occur.) In the rice-like flakes it is fre- 

 quently so numerous that in a film the " commas " are 

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

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



433 28 



