Bacilli Resembling the Tubercle Bacillus 735 



FISH TUBERCULOSIS 



Dubarre and Terre* isolated a bacillus having the tinctorial and morphologic 

 characteristics of the tubercle bacillus from carp suffering from a tubercle-like 

 affection. In respect to cultivation, however, it was unlike the tubercle bacillus, 

 growing readily upon simple culture-media at 15° to 30°C., and not at 37°C. 



Weber and Taubef found the same organism, or what seemed to be the same 

 organism, in mud and in a healthy frog. 



BACILLI RESEMBLING THE TUBERCLE BACILLUS 



It is not improbable that the bacilli of human, bovine, and avian tuberculosis 

 are closely related to one another, and, together with a few other micro-organisms 

 of similar morphology and staining peculiarities, have a common ancestry 

 and are descended from the same original stock. The most important of these 

 similar organisms are Bacillus lepra (q.v.), B. smegmatis, and Moeller's grass 

 bacUlus. 



Bacillus Smegmatis 



Alvarez and Tavel,t Matterstock,§ Klemperer and Bittu,|| Cowie,** and 

 others have described peculiar bacilli in smegma taken from the genitals of man 

 and the lower animals, as well as from the moist skin in the folds of the groin, 

 the axillae, and the anus. They are also sometimes found in urine, and oc- 

 casionally in the saliva and sputum. 



Moiphology and Staining. — The organisms are of somewhat variable mor- 

 phology, but in general resemble the tubercle bacillus, stain with carbol-f uchsin, as 

 does the tubercle bacillus, and resist the decolorant action of acids. They are, 

 however, decolorized by absolute alcohol, though Moeller declares the smegma 

 bacUlus to be absolutely alcohol-proof as well as acid-proof, and admits no tinc- 

 torial difference between it and the tubercle bacillus. The bacillus, being about 

 the size and shape of the tubercle bacillus, is very readily mistaken for it, and its 

 presence in cases of stispected tuberculosis of the genito-urinary apparatus, and 

 in urine and other secretions in which it is likely to be present, may lead to con- 

 siderable confusion. The final differentiation may have to rest upon animal 

 inoculation. 



Cultivation. — The cultivation of the smegma bacillus is difficult and was first 

 achieved by Czaplewski.ft Doutrelepont and Matterstock cultivated it upon 

 coagulated hydrocele fluid, but were unable to transplant the growth successf lily. 



Novytt recommends the cultivation of the smegma bacillus by inoculating a 

 tube of melted agar-agar cooled to so°C. with the appropriate material, and 

 mixing with it about 2 cc. of blood withdrawn from a vein of the arm with a 

 sterile hypodermic syringe. The blood-agar mixture is poured into a sterile 

 Petri dish and set aside for a day or two at 37°C. The colonies that form ara to 

 be examined for bacilli that resist decolorization with acids. 



Moeller § § found it comparatively easy to secure cultures of the smegma bacillus 

 by a peculiar method. To secure smaU quantities of human serum for the pur- 

 pose of investigating the phenomena of agglutination he applied small cantharidal 

 blisters to the skins of various healthy and other men, and found large numbers of 

 acid-proof bacilli in the serum saturated with epithelial substance, that remained 

 after most of the serum had been withdrawn. He removed the skin covering 

 from the blister, placed it in the remaining serum, and kept it In the incubator for 

 three or four days, after which he found a dry, floating scum, which consisted of 

 enormous numbers of the bacilli, upon the serum. From this growth he was 



* "Compt. rendu de la Soc. de Biol, de Paris," 1897, 446. 



t "Tuberkulose Arbeiten aus dem kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte," 1905. 



t "Archiv de Physiol, norm, et Path.," 1885, No. 7. 



§ "Mittheil. aus d. med. Klin, d. Univ. zu. Wurzburg," 1885, Bd. vi. 



II "Virchow's Archives," v, 103. 



** "Journal of Experimental Medicine," 1900-01, vol. v, p. 205. 

 tf'Munchener med. Wochenschrift," 1897. 

 it "Laboratory Work in Bacteriology," 1899. 



§§ "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk," March 12, 1902 (Originale), Bd. xxxi, 

 i 0. 7, p. 278.1 



