FAMILY LACTOBACTERIACEAE 



307 



delle Batteriacee, 1889, 26; Micrococcus 

 rosenhachii Trevisan, ibid., 33; Micro- 

 coccus pTjogenes-ienuis De Toni and 

 Trevisan, in Saccardo, Sylloge Fungorum, 

 8, 1889, 1031 ; Micrococcus pneumoniae 

 crouposae Sternberg, Cent. f. Bakt., 12, 

 1892, 53; Diplococcus lanceolatus capsu- 

 latus Kruse and Pansini, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 

 11, 1892, 335; Diplococcus lanceolatus 

 incorrectly ascribed to Frankel by 

 Binaghi, Cent. f. Bakt., I Abt., 22, 1897, 

 278; Micrococcus tenuis Migula, Sj^st. d. 

 Bakt., 2, 1900, 193; Bacterium pneu- 

 moniae Migula, ibid., 347; Bacterium 

 salivarium Migula, ibid., 379; Strepto- 

 coccus pneumoniae Chester, Man. 

 Determ. Bact., 1901, 63; Micrococcus 

 lanceolatus Longcope, Jour. Med. Res., 

 7 (N.S. 2), 1902, 220; Pneumococcus 

 lanceolatus Schmidlechner, Ztschr. f. 

 Geburtshilfe u. Gynakologie, 56, 1905, 

 291; Pneumococcus pneumoniae Fried, 

 Jour. Exp. Med., 57, 1933, 111.) From 

 Greek pneumonia, inflammation of the 

 lungs. 



Monas pulmonale Klebs (Arch. f. 

 exper. Path. u. Pharmakol., 4, 1875, 472) 

 is inadequately described by Klebs and 

 ought not to be regarded as identical 

 with Weichselbaum's organism. 



Common name: Pneumococcus. 



The organisms occur as oval or spherical 

 forms typically in pairs, occasionally 

 singly or in short chains, 0.5 to 1.25 

 microns. The distal ends of each pair 

 of organisms tend to be pointed or lancet- 

 shaped. Encapsulated. Non-motile. 

 Young cells, Gram-positive. 



Gelatin stab: Filiform or beaded 

 growth. No liquefaction. 



Infusion agar colonies: Small, trans- 

 parent, grayish, with entire margin. 

 Elevation high convex, glistening, mucoid 

 to watery. 



On blood agar, the colonies are elevated 

 at the center with concentric elevations 

 and depressions. Hemolysis usually 

 slight but often marked in anaerobic 



culture; methemaglobin formation with 

 green zone around colony. 



Beef heart infusion broth : Uniform 

 turbidity with variable amount of 

 sediment. 



Addition of glucose, serum, whole 

 blood or ascitic fluid enhances growth. 



Meat extract media : Growth irregular, 

 usually poor if any. 



Inulin serum water : Usually acid with 

 coagulation. 



Litmus milk: Usually acid with 

 coagulation . 



Potato: No growth. 



Whole bile or 10 per cent solutions of 

 sodium taurocholate or sodium glyco- 

 cholate added to actively growing broth 

 cultures will dissolve the organisms. It 

 is customary to use from 0.1 to 0.5 ml of 

 bile for each 0.5 ml of culture. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Optimum temperature 37°C. Usually 

 no growth at 18° to 22°C. 



Optimum initial pH 7.8. 



Source : Sputum, blood and exudates in 

 pneumonia ; cerebrospinal fluid in menin- 

 gitis; mastoiditis; otitis media; peri- 

 tonitis; empj^ema; pericarditis; endo- 

 carditis; arthritis; saliva and secretions 

 of respiratory tract in normal persons. 

 Commonest cause of lobar pneumonia. 



Habitat : The respiratory tract of man 

 and animals. 



At present, thirty-one types of Diplo- 

 coccus pneumoniae are recognized on the 

 basis of serological reactions, chiefly the 

 Neufeld "Quellung" phenomenon as in- 

 duced by type-specific immune rabbit 

 serums. Following the description of 

 Pneumococcus 1 by Neufeld and Handel 

 (Arb. a. d. k. Gesundheitsamte, 34, 1910, 

 293), Dochez and Gillespie (Jour. Amer. 

 Med. Assoc, 61, 1913, 727) divided the 

 species into Types 1, 2, 3 and a heterog- 

 enous group 4; Cooper, Edwards and 

 Rosenstein (Jour. Exp. Med., 49, 1929, 

 461) separated Types 4 to 13 from the 

 strains previously designated as group 4, 

 and later Cooper, Rosenstein, Walter and 

 Peizer (Jour. Exp. Med., 65, 1932, 531) 



