880 



MANUAL OF DETERMINATIVE BACTERIOLOGY 



Description from Strauss and Gamaleia 

 (loc. cit.) and Topley and Wilson 

 (Princip. of Bact. and Immun., 2nd ed., 

 1936, 315). 



Rods resembling those of the bovine 

 type of tubercle organism. 



Nutrient agar: After 4 weeks, slight 

 growth, effuse, translucent with fine 

 granular surface. 



Glycerol agar colonies : After 3 to 4 

 weeks, raised, regular, hemispherical, 

 creamy or white colonies. 



Nutrient broth: After 4 weeks, very 

 slight viscous to granular bottom growth, 

 no pellicle, no turbidity. 



Glycerol broth: After 4 weeks, diffuse, 

 turbid growth with a viscous to granular 

 deposit. 



Dorset's egg slants : After 4 weeks, con- 

 fluent, slightly raised growth, with 

 smooth regular surface. 



Glj'cerol egg slants: After 4 weeks, 

 luxuriant, raised, confluent, creamy to 

 yellow growth with perfectly smooth 

 surface. 



Coagulated beef serum : After 4 weeks, 

 thin, effuse, grayish-yellow growth with 

 smooth surface. 



Glycerol beef serum: After 4 weeks, 

 luxuriant, raised, confluent, yellow to 

 orange-yellow or occasionally pale pink 

 growth, with a smooth glistening surface. 



Glycerol potato: After 4 weeks, luxu- 

 riant, raised, confluent, with smooth to 

 nodular surface. 



Litmus milk : Growth, but no change in 

 the milk. 



Carbohydrates : Fructose, arabinoseand 

 sucrose are utilized, glucose is slightly 

 utilized, galactose and lactose are not 

 utilized (Merrill, Jour. Bact., 20, 1930, 

 235, based on the e.xamination of one 

 strain). 



Optimum temperature 40°C ; range 30° 

 to 44°C (Bynoe, Thesis, McGill Uni- 

 versity, Montreal, 1931). 



Optimum pH 6.8 to 7.3 (Bynoe, loc. 

 cit.). 



Pathogenicity : Produces tuberculosis 

 in domestic fowls and other birds. In 

 pigs it produces localized and sometimes 



disseminated disease. Experimentally 

 in the rabbit, guinea pig, rat and mouse 

 it may proliferate without producing 

 macroscopic tubercles — tuberculosis of 

 the Yersin type. Man, ox, goat, cat, 

 horse, dog and monkey are not infected. 



Variation : Winn and Petroff (Jour. 

 Exp. Med., 57, 1933, 239), Kahn and 

 Schwartzkopf (Jour. Bact., 25, 1933, 

 157), Birkhaug (Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 5Jt, 

 1935, 19), Reed and Rice (Canad. Jour. 

 Res., 5, 1931, 111) and others, have shown 

 variation to follow the course described 

 for many species. Winn and Petroff 

 have separated four colonial types : 

 smooth, flat smooth, rough, deep yellow 

 smooth. These also differ in chemical 

 and physical properties. The smooth 

 form exhibited the greatest degree of 

 virulence, the flat smooth a lower viru- 

 lence, while the chromogenic smooth and 

 the rough were relatively benign. Some 

 authors have failed to demonstrate this 

 difference in virulence. The above de- 

 scription applies primarily to the smooth 

 form. 



Antigenic structure : By agglutination, 

 absorption of agglutinins and comple- 

 ment fixation Mycobacterium avium may 

 be distinguished from other members of 

 the genus (Tullock et al.. Tubercle, 6, 

 1924, 18, 57 and 105; Wilson, Jour. Path, 

 and Bact., 28, 1925, 69; Mudd, Proc. Soc. 

 Exp. Biol, and Med., 23, 1925, 569, and 

 others). Furth (Jour. Immunol., 12, 

 1926, 273) and Shaffer (Jour. Path, and 

 Bact., 40, 1935, 107) on this basis divided 

 Mycohacterium avium into 1 or 2 sub- 

 groups . 



Distinctive characters : Tubercle ba- 

 cilli pathogenic for fowls, not for guinea 

 pigs or rabbits . Culturally distinguished 

 from the mammalian types by the ab- 

 sence of pellicle formation in fluid media 

 and the habit of growth on most solid 

 media. Antigenically distinguished from 

 other species. 



Source : From tubercles in fowls, widely 

 distributed as the causal agent of tu- 

 berculosis in birds and less frequently in 

 pigs. 



