NOCARDIA IN Die A 



1059 



found, but elavif oral swellings are usually absent ; mycelial threads 

 are always very slender (i to ij [jb). The fungus can be grown on 

 the ordinary media: facultative aerobe. On glycerinated agar it 

 forms discoid colonies, white in the centre and reddish at the peri- 

 phery. In the cultures the mycelial threads are as slender as in the 

 grains. Some of the mycelial threads have at their extremities 

 short chains of small conidial elements. Gram-positive, but not 

 acid-fast. 



It is to be noted that this fungus very rarely produces bone 

 lesions. Most strains are inoculable into monkeys. 



Nocardia dassonvillei Brocq-Rousseu, 1907. 



Synonym. — -Streptothrix foersteri (Gasperini, 1890). 



Very thin ramified, mycelial threads, which easily become 

 fragmented and dissociated into bacillary-like bodies. Numerous 

 spherical coccus-like bodies (spores) present. Gram -positive. The 

 fungus grows fairly well on gelatine, giving rise to small white, 

 roundish colonies. This fungus has been found by Landrieu and 

 Liegard in a case of conjunctivitis in an old lady who powdered her 

 face extensively several times daily with rice-powder. The authors 

 suggest that the fungus may have been present in the rice-powder, 

 as the same fungus is known to be found in several decaying cereals. 



Gasperini isolated in 1890 from the air a Nocardia which he 

 identified as N. foersteri. Further researches (Landrieu) have 

 shown Gasperini's fungus to be N. dassonvillei . 



Nocardia decussata Langeron and Chevalier, 1912. 



Synonym. — -Discomyces decussatus Langeron and Chevalier, 1912. 



Found by Langeron and Chevalier in a patient presenting 

 peculiar whitish, dry, squamous patches. The fungus grows on 

 ordinary media extremely slowly. Colonies milk-white, the central 

 portion of which is slightly elevated and flattened, but has a minute 

 nodule in the middle; very often four furrows, forming a cross, are 

 seen. The mycelial threads are thin, non-septate, and are easily 

 dissociated into roundish bodies, i to 1-5 li in diameter. 



The pathogenic role of this fungus is doubtful. 



Nocardia pulmonalis H. Roger, Bory, and Sartory, 1909. 



In the parasitic stage may appear in the shape of bacillary-like 

 bodies, about 0-5 in diameter. In cultures (maltose broth) 

 thjn mycelial filaments, 0-5 ju, in diameter, are present, some branch- 

 ing, some terminating in club-like formations. Some mycelial 

 threads are very fragile, and become fragmented into strings of 

 bacillary or coccus-like bodies. 



Pathogenicity. — Causes a type of pseudo-tuberculosis. In the 

 expectoration occasionally small white granules, composed of 

 masses of the fungus, are present. Sartory has found the fungus in 

 a case of otitis 



