FAMILY PARVOBACTERIACEAE 



549 



Virulent for laboratory animals, espe- 

 cially mice and rabbits. 



Distinctive characters: Grows on or- 

 dinary media. Bile salts inhibit growth. 



Source : From numerous domestic ani- 

 mals and fowls, including cat, dog, cattle, 

 horse, goat, sheep, pig, rabbit, chicken, 

 and from reindeer, buffalo, rat, etc. 



Habitat : The cause of hemorrhagic 

 septicemia in birds and mammals. 



2. Pasteurella hemolytica Newsomand 

 Cross. (Jour. Amer. Vet. INIed. Assoc, 80 

 (N.S. 33), 1932, 715.) From M. L., 

 hemolytic. 



Bipolar staining. 



Blood agar: Hemolysis. 



Indole not formed. 



Acid from dextrin, fructose, galactose, 

 glucose, glycerol (usualljO, inositol, lac- 

 tose (usually), maltose, mannitol, raf- 

 finose, sorbitol, sucrose and xylose. Xo 

 acid from arabinose, dulcitol, inulin, 

 mannose, rhamnose or salicin. 



Xo cross-agglutination between Pas- 

 teurella multocida and this species. 



Avirulent for rabbits. 



Source : Twenty strains isolated from 

 pneumonia in sheep and cattle. 



Habitat : Occurs in pneumonia of sheep 

 and cattle. 



.3. Pasteurella pestis (Lehmann and 

 X'eumann) Holland. (Bacille de la peste, 

 Yersin, Ann. Inst. Past., 8, 1894, 666; 

 Pest Bacillus, Aoyama, Ztschr. f. Hyg., 

 21, 1895, 165; Bacterium pestis Lehmann 

 and Xeumann, Bakt. Diag., 1 Aufl., 2, 

 1896, 194; Bacillus pestis biibonicae 

 Kruse, in Fliigge, Die INIikroorganismen, 

 3 Aufl., 2, 1896, 429; Bacterium pestis 

 bubonicae Chester, Ann. Rept. Del. 

 Col. Agr. Exp. Sta., 9, 1897, 81; Bacillus 

 pestis Migula, Syst. d. Bakt., 2, 1900, 

 749; Eucystia pestis Enderlein, Sitzber. 

 Gesell. Xaturf. Freunde, Berlin, 1917, 

 317; Holland, Jour. Bact., 5, 1920, 219; 

 Coccobacillus yersini Neveu-Lemaire, 

 Precis Parasitol. Hum., 5th ed., 1921, 

 20.) From Latin pestis, plague. 



Rods: 1.0 by 2.0 microns, occurring 



singly. X'on-motile. Polar staining. 

 Characteristic bladder, safetj^-pin and 

 ring involution forms. Gram-negative. 



Gelatin colonies: Flat, gray, with 

 granular margin. 



Gelatin stab: Flat surface growth. 

 Arborescent growth in stab. Xo lique- 

 faction. 



Agar colonies: Grayish-white, translu- 

 cent, irridescent, undulate. 



Agar slant : Growth grayish, viscid, 

 thin, moist, translucent. Growth slow, 

 favored by the addition of blood or so- 

 dium sulfite. 



Broth : Turbid or clear with fiocculi 

 in the fluid. Old cultures show a pellicle 

 with streamers into the fluid (stalac- 

 tites). Becomes alkaline more slowly 

 than Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis. See 

 Bessonowa and Lenskaja, Cent. f. Bakt., 

 I Abt., Orig., 119, 1930,430. 



Litmus milk: Slightly acid or un- 

 changed. Xo coagulation. 



Potato: Scanty, grayish growth. 



Indole not formed. 



Lactose and rhamnose not attacked. 

 Variable action on glycerol. 



Xitrites are produced from nitrates. 



Temperature relations: Optimum 25° 

 to 30°C. Minimum 0°C. Maximum 43° 

 to 45 °C. 



Aerobic, facultative. 



Source : Buboes, blood, pleural effusion, 

 spleen and liver of infected rodents and 

 man. Sputum in pneumonic plague. 

 Infected fleas. 



Habitat : The causative organism of 

 plague in man, rats, ground squirrels and 

 other rodents. Infectious for mice, 

 guinea pigs and rabbits. Transmitted 

 from rat to rat and from rat to man by the 

 infected rat flea. 



Xote: Pasteurella pestis and Pas- 

 teurella pseudotuberculosis are not defi- 

 nitely distinguishable by serological 

 methods (Schiitze, Med. Res. Council, 

 Syst. of Bact., London, 4, 1929, 478, and 

 Wu Lien-teh, in Chun, Pollitzer and Wu, 

 "Plague," Xational Quarantine Service, 

 Shanghai, 1936). Malachite-green broth 

 slowly decolorized by Pasteurella pestis 



