26o SPECIFIC MICRO-ORGANISMS 



It should be transplanted every few days and a large quantity 

 of growth must be transferred. When transplanted from vigor- 

 ous cultures to plain agar the gonococcus grows for a few days, 

 but it cannot be successfully propagated for any length of time 

 on ordinary media. 



The gonococcus is very sensitive to drying and to tempera- 

 tures above 40° C. It is usually impossible to recover it from 

 dried pus, but in moist material it may live for i to 24 hours. 

 The organism is easily killed by chemicals germicides, of which 

 silver nitrate is probably the most effective. 



Inoculation of animals in the urethra or on the eonjuctiva 

 is without result. Intraperitoneal injection of cultures into 

 •white mice or 'guinea-pigs usually kills the animals in 24 hours 

 and the gonococci can be recovered from the peritoneal fluid 

 and the heart's blood. These effects seem to be due to toxins of 

 the injected material rather than actual infection. The specific 

 poisons seem to be intracellular and set free upon disintegration 

 of the organism.. The poison withstands heating to 100° C. for 

 hours. Inoculation of the human urethra with cultures of the 

 gonococcus has been repeatedly done and has resulted nearly al- 

 ways in the production of typical gonorrhea. 



Gonorrhea has been recognized as a contagious disease since 

 the dawn of history. The most important forms are (i) urethritis 

 with tendency to extension in the female to the cervix uteri, ovi- 

 ducts and peritoneum, and in the mal6 to the prostate, seminal 

 vesicles and- epididymis, and in both sexes to the blood stream, 

 heart valves and joints; (2) conjunctivitis and keratitis leading to 

 scarring of the cornea and permanent blindness; (3) vulvo- vaginitis 

 in girl babies, an exceedingly contagious disease, especially in 

 hospital wards. The disease tends to become chronic and eventu- 

 ally latent, that is, the symptoms subside but the micro-organisms 

 remain alive in certain locations, such as the prostate in the male 

 and the cervix uteri in the feinale. The acute inflammation may 

 be followed by scars resulting in strictures of the urethra or occlu- 

 sion of the epididymis. In the female, pyosalpinx is a not unusual 



