FAMILY TREPONEMATACEAE 



1073 



Habana, 6, 1940, 117; Treponema pinlae 

 Curbelo, Elementos de Bacteriologia 

 Medica, 1941, 34.) From carate, spotted 

 sickness. 



Description taken from Leon y Blanco 

 {loc. cit.). 



Cylindrical: 0.25 to 0.30 by 7.8 to 36.8 

 microns, average length 17.8 microns. 

 With sharp-pointed ends. 



Spiral amplitude : 1 micron, regular. 



Spiral depth: 0.8 to 1.0 micron. 



Number of waves, 6 to 27, according to 

 length. Ten to twelve (Brumpt, loc. 

 cit.). 



Actively motile. At times undulating 

 or creeping movements are shown. 



Staining reactions : Readily takes silver 

 impregnations, Giemsa's stain, carbol- 

 fuchsin and gentian violet. 



Saponin (10 per cent) : Disintegrates in 

 six hours at room temperature. Same 

 result with sodium taurocholate (10 per 

 cent) and with bile. 



Distilled water : Produces swelling. 



Loses motility on heating for 15 minutes 

 at 50°C or for 3 hours at 4rC. 



Wassermann, Kahn and Meinicke reac- 

 tions positive. 



Has not yet been cultivated artificially. 

 Experimental transmission unsuccessful 

 so far. 



Source : From the border of cutaneous 

 lesions of persons having pinta (spotted 

 sickness). 



Habitat : The cause of pinta (or carate) . 

 Common in Mexico and Colombia. Also 

 found in other northern countries of 

 South America, in Central America and 

 the West Indies. Rare in Cuba. Pos- 

 sibly found in other tropical regions of the 

 world. 



8. Treponema cuniculi Noguchi. 

 {Spirochaeta paraluis cuniculi Jakobs- 

 thal, Dermatol. Wchnschr., 71, 1920, 569; 

 Noguchi, Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 77, 

 1921, 2052; also see Noguchi, Jour. Exp. 

 Med., 35, 1922, 395; Treponema pallidum 

 var. cuniculi Klarenbeek, Cent. f. Bakt., 

 I Abt., Orig., 87, 1921, 203; Spirochaeta 

 cuniculi Seraditi, Marie and Isaien, 



Compt. rend. Soc. Biol., Paris, 85, 1921, 

 51 ; Spirochaeta pallida var. cuniculi 

 Zuelzer, 1925, in Prowazek, Handb. d. 

 path. Protoz., 3, 1931, 1765; Spirochaeta 

 paraluis Pettit, Contribution a I'Etude 

 des Spirochetides, Vanves, II, 1928, 91; 

 Spirochaeta paraluis-cuniculi Hindle, 

 Med. Res. Council Syst. of Bact., 8, 1931, 

 187.) From Latin, rabbit. 



Description from Noguchi (loc. cit.). 



Closely resembles Treponema pallidum, 

 but longer. 



Width 0.25 micron; length 10 to 16 mi- 

 crons; long specimens up to 30 microns 

 frequent. 



Spirals 8 to 12 in number, regular, deep. 



Spiral amplitude 1 to 1.2 microns. 



Spiral depth 0.6 to 1.0 micron. 



Delicate terminal filament at one, 

 sometimes both, ends. 



Often forms entangled masses of long 

 threads; occurs sometimes in a stellate 

 arrangement . 



Staining properties same as for Trepo- 

 nema pallidum. Both readily stained by 

 ordinary basic analine dj'es when fixed in 

 a buffered formaldehyde solution. 



Wassermann reaction negative. 



Pathogenesis : Disease transmissible to 

 healthy rabbits, producing papular le- 

 sions in the genitoperineal region. Not 

 pathogenic for monkeys, mice or guinea 

 pigs. 



Source : From lesions in the genitoperi- 

 neal region of five rabbits. 



Habitat : The cause of rabbit spiro- 

 chetosis. 



Appendix: Many of the species in this 

 appendix are so inadequately described 

 that it is not certain that they belong in 

 this group. 



Microspironema legeri Duboscq and 

 Lebailly. (Duboscq and Lebailly, 

 Compt. rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, 154, 1912, 

 662; Treponema legeri Zuelzer, 1925, in 

 Prowazek, Handb. d. path. Protoz. , 3, 

 1931, 1683.) From a fish. Box hoops. 



Spirochaeta microgyrata Loewenthal. 

 (Loewenthal, Berl. klin. Wochnschr., 4^, 

 1906, 283; Spironema microgyrata Nogu- 



