THE IDENTITY OF AMERICAN AND FRENCH 
SPOROTRICHOSIS* 
Davin JoHN Davis 
INTRODUCTION 
The reason for presenting this subject at this time will 
no doubt be deemed adequate by those who have followed the 
literature on sporotrichosis during the past several years. 
This disease is known to be relatively common in France, 
the number of cases observed now running into the hundreds. 
In America the disease is being commonly reported in both 
man and horses; the number of human cases now closely ap- 
proximates a hundred, and several extensive outbreaks in 
horses in different localities have been observed. 
The disease is known under the name of Sporotrichosis in 
both countries. In France and generally on the continent, 
also in certain other parts of the world, the cause is given as 
the Sporotrichum beurmanni. In the United States the causal 
organism is generally but not uniformly recognized as Sporo- 
thrir schenckii. Certain writers here, now and then, refer 
to the organism from American cases as Sporotrichum beur- 
manni or as Sporotrichum schenckii-beurmanni. The impres- 
sion is general on the continent and especially in France that 
the American and French organisms are distinct and that 
we have to do with two different though closely related dis- 
eases. It is my purpose in this paper to analyse the existing 
data and to present certain new data bearing upon this matter 
of the identity or non-identity of these two infections. 
This discussion does not concern other distinct varieties 
of Sporotricha either pathogenic or non-pathogenic. The ex- 
istence of these is recognized. Many saprophytic sporotricha 
* rom the Department of Pathology and Bacteriology, University of 
Illinois ; College of Medicine, Chicago. 
