302 Suppuration 



STAPHYLdCOCCUS PYOGENES AUREUS (ROSENBACH*) 



General Characteristics.— A non-motile, non-flagellate, non-sporogenous' 

 liquefying, chromogenic, pathogenic, aerobic and optionally anaerobic coccus' 

 staining by the ordinary methods and by Gram's method. 



Commonly present upon the skin, though in smaller numbers than 

 the organisms already described, is the more virulent and sometimes 

 dangerous Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, or "golden staphylococ- 

 cus," first observed by Ogston and cultivated by Rosenbach. As 

 the morphology and cultural characteristics of this organism are 

 identical with those of the preceding species, it seems convenient to 

 describe them together, pointing out such minor differences as occur. 

 In doing this, however, it must not be forgotten that, although 

 Staphylococcus albus was first mentioned. Staphylococcus aureus 

 is the more common organism of suppuration. 



STAPHYLOCOCCI PYOGENES AUREUS ET ALBUS 



Distribution. — ^The cocci are not widely distributed in nature, 

 seeming not to find a purely saprophytic existence satisfactory. They 



Fig. io6. — Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus (Giinther). 



occur, however, upon man and the lower animals, and can occasionally 

 be found in the dusts of houses and hospitals — especially in the 

 surgical wards — if proper precautions are not exercised. They are 

 common upon the 'skin, in the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears of man; 

 they are nearly always present beneath the finger-nails, and some- 

 times occur in the feces, especially of children. 



Staphylococci are the most common micro-organisms in some 

 acne pustules, in furuncles, in carbuncles, in superficial and deep 

 abscesses, and in the ordinary run of surgical injections. So com- 

 mon are they that one should never be satisfied that he has exhausted 



* " Mikroorganismen bei Wundinfektionskrankheiten des Menschen, " Wies- 

 baden, 1884. 



