FAMILY ACTIXOMYCETACEAE 



927 



Tratt. Micopat. Umaiia, 4, 1934, 53; 

 Actinomyces wolff-israel Lentze, Cent. f. 

 Bakt., I Abt., Orig., I4I, 1938, 21.) 

 Named for Prof. Israel, one of the origi- 

 nal isolators of this organism. 



Synonyms previous to 1919 essential Ij' 

 as given by Breed and Conn, Jour. Bact., 

 4, 1919, 597. 



Description from Erikson, Med. Res. 

 Council, London, Special Rept. Ser. 240, 

 1940, 63 pp. 



Erect aerial hyphae produced in an 

 atmosphere of reduced oxygen tension. 

 These hyphae are occasionally septate 

 but no definite spores are formed. One 

 micron or more in diameter. Large 

 club-shaped forms are seen in morbid 

 tissues. Gram-positive. Xon-motile. 

 Not acid-fast. 



Substrate mycelium: Initially uni- 

 cellular and the branches may extend 

 into the medium in long filaments or 

 may, more or less quickly, exhibit frag- 

 mentation and characteristic angular 

 branching. The latter resembles the 

 similar phenomenon found in Corynehac- 

 teriwn . 



Colonies : These exhibit a considerable 

 degree of polymorphism but no stable 

 variants have been established. Tougher 

 in texture than those of Actinomyces 

 bonis. Old colonies warted in appearance. 

 Adherent to the medium. 



Gelatin: Occasionally scant, flaky 

 growth. No liquefaction. 



Liquid media: L^sually clear. 



Acid from sugars: According to Slack 

 (Jour. Bact., 43, 1941, 193-209) acid from 

 glucose, maltose, mannitol, sucrose and 

 lactose; according to Negroni and Bon- 

 figlioli (Physics, 15, 1939, 159) acid from 

 glucose, galactose, lactose, fructose, mal- 

 tose, raffinose, sucrose and xylose. 



Pigments : No soluble pigments on 

 protein media. No insoluble pigments 

 produced by growth. 



Egg or serum media: No proteolytic 

 action. 



Litmus milk : Becomes acid but usuallv 



does not clot. No peptonization. Fre- 

 quently no growth. 



No hemolysis. 



Serology : No cross agglutination be- 

 tween 12 human strains and bovine 

 strains of Actinomyces. No cross reac- 

 tions with representative aerobic strains. 



Optimum temperature 37°C. 



Anaerobic to microaerophilic. 



Source : From 2 cases of human ac- 

 tinomycosis : (1) A retromaxillary tumor, 

 (2) actinomycosis of lung and breast 

 (Wolff and Isreal). 



Habitat : From human sources (mouth, 

 tonsillar crypts, etc.). Also reported 

 from various domestic animals such as 

 dogs (Baudet, Ann. Parasit., 12, 1934, 

 296) and cats (Edington, Vet. Record., 

 U, 1934, 311). 



Appendix: The following names have 

 been applied to anaerobic or semi -anaero- 

 bic species, with descriptions which do 

 not permit clear separation from the 

 above or from each other. 



Actinobacterium meyeri Pr6vot. (An- 

 aerobe Streptothrix-Art, Meyer, Cent, f . 

 Bakt., I Abt., Orig., 60, 1911, 75; Pr^vot, 

 Ann. Inst. Past., 60, 1938, 303.) From 

 fetid pus. 



Actinomyces discofoliatus Griiter. 

 (Griiter, Ztschr. f. Augenheilk., 13, 

 19.33, 477; redescribed by Negroni, 

 Mycopathologia, 1, 1938, 81.) From 

 lachrj'mal concretion and human infec- 

 tion. 



Actinomyces lanfranchii Sani. (Saui, 

 1916, quoted from Dodge, Medical Mj- 

 cology, St. Louis, 1935, 731; Nocardia 

 lanfranchii de Mello and Pais, Arq. Hig. 

 Pat. Exot., 6, 1918, 178.) From glandu- 

 lar and ganglionar actinom3'cosis of the 

 ox. Regarded as a variety of Actinomy- 

 ces bovis. 



Actinomyces thjoettae Dodge. (Cokni- 

 slreptothrix sp. or Streptothrix sp. 

 Thj0tta and Gundersen, Jour. Bact., 10, 

 1925, 1; Dodge, Medical INIycology, 1935, 

 713.) From the blood in a case of acute 

 rheumatism. 



