96 



The Philippine Journal of Science 



1917 



NONAGGLUTINABLE VIBRIOS 



Vibrios which were not agglutinable by a standard cholera- 

 immune serum were found in 6 cases. It is very probable that 

 they would have been found in more cases, but special search 

 for them was made only during the latter part of the investi- 

 gation. The data concerning these cases is presented in Ta- 

 ble VII. 



Table VII. — Data concerning ca^es from which nonagglutinable vibrios 



were isolated. 



Autop- 

 sy No. 



■ Clinical diagnosis. 



Anatomic diagnosis. 



Bacteriologic examination of— 



1 



Intestine. 



Bile. 



4827... 



5211... 



5315... 

 5897... 



5410... 

 5429... 



Undetermined 



Pneumonia (known 



carrier). 

 Cholera 



Acute cardiac dilata- 

 tion. 

 Pneumonia. 



Nonagglutinable 



vibrio. 

 do 



Cholera vibrio. 



Do. 



Negative. 



Nona gglutinable 



vibrio. 



Negative. 



Do. 



Probable cholera . 



do 



Cardiac disease 



Tuberculosis... 



Tuberculosis _ 



do 



do.. 



do 



Accident 





... do 









Since early in 1915 some 30 strains of nonagglutinable vibrios 

 isolated from the faeces and gall bladder of positively known 

 cholera patients and from the faeces of cholera contacts and other 

 persons have been studied definitely to prove, if possible, the 

 true status of the strains — ^that is, whether or not they were 

 to be regarded as of significance, and if they should prove to be 

 of significance, whether the carriers of the nonagglutinable 

 vibrios should be regarded as a menace to public health. 



. Method. — Specimens were taken by means of sterile cotton 

 swabs on pieces of bamboo. As taken, these were placed in 

 sterile tubes containing about 2 cubic centimeters of 3 per cent 

 agar of —1 reaction to phenolphthalein. When received at the 

 laboratory, 10 cubic centimeters of a double-strength peptone 

 were added, and the tubes were incubated overnight, or about 

 eighteen hours, at 37.5° C. Hanging drops were then made and 

 examined for suspicious motility. Dieudonne plates were seeded 

 from all suspicious tubes, and suspicious colonies were fished at 

 the end of a further 24 hours' incubation ; the agglutinability was 

 tested with a dilution of 1 : 500 of cholera-immune goat serum, 

 titer 1 : 6,000. All of these strains of organisms were tested for 

 their agglutinability, but none gave any reaction. They were 

 then transplanted to pure beef bile with transfers to agar every 



