Streptococcus Pyogenes 315 



No acids are formed from starch, glycogen, arabin, convolvulin, 

 huperidin, jalapin, methyl glucoside, saponin, glycol, erythrite or 

 dulcite (Gordon). 



Marmorek* and Lubenauf found that cultures of the strep- 

 tococcus when grown in bouillon containing glucose, produced 

 a hemolytic substance — slreptokolysin — not seemingly present 

 in cultures grown in ordinary bouillon. BesredkaJ found that 

 streptokolysin was produced only by highly virulent cultures of 

 the streptococcus and not by saprophytic organisms that have been 

 for some time under cultivation in the laboratory. 



Levin§ investigated the subject thoroughly and found that 

 different strains of streptococci produced streptokolysin in varying 

 quantities, that its production is entirely independent of virulence, 

 that it is destroyed by heat (37°C. in some days; 55°C. in one-half 

 hour) ; that acidity of the nutrient media hinders its formation, and 

 that it is intimately associated with the bodies of the streptococci 

 by which it is produced, so that in the sediment obtained by filtra- 

 tion or by centrifugation there is nearly one thousand times as 

 much as in the filtered fluid culture. The streptokolysin is not 

 destroyed by the death of the bacteria. Antistreptoholysin is pres- 

 ent in antistreptococcus serum. 



Toxic Products. — The toxic products of the streptococcus are 

 not well known. Cultures from different sources vary greatly in 

 the effects produced by hypodermic or intravenous injection after 

 filtration through porcelain. Killed cultures produce a much more 

 marked effect than filtered ones, so that the important product 

 must be an endotoxin. 



Simon|l found that the toxic quality of the bodies of strepto- 

 cocci of different stocks had nothing to do with their virulence. 

 Simon** also found that the toxic products of the streptococcus were 

 diverse and peculiar. The bodies of the cocci contained an intra- 

 cellular toxin the activity of which was independent of virulence. 

 This poison is liberated only when the bactericidal activities of the 

 body act upon the cocci. The cocci also excrete a toxic substance 

 whose activity is greater than that of the intracellular toxin, but 

 whose production is subject to great variation and is entirely in- 

 dependent of the intracellular toxin. The toxins and hemolysins 

 are entirely different bodies. 



In general, the effects of streptococcus intoxication are vague. 

 The animals appear weak and ill, and have a slight fever; but un- 

 less the virulence of the culture be exceptional or the dose very large, 

 they usually recover in a short time. 



* "Annales de I'Inst. Pasteur," 1895, S93- 

 t "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., 1901, Bd. xxx, Nds. 9 and 10. 

 X "Ann. de I'Inst. Pasteur," igoi, p. 880. 

 § "Nord. Med. Ark.," 1903, 11, No. 15, p. 20. 

 II "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," Dec. 18, 1903, xxxv, No. 3, p. 308. 

 ** Ibid., Jan. 16, 1904, xxxv, No. 4, p. 350. 



