400 THE BACILLUS MUCOSUS CAPSULATUS GROUP 
Starch is fermented by many members. 
Enzymes and toxins have not been demonstrated in cultures of any 
members of the group. Certain members of the group, inchiding 
B. aminophikis^ ferment d-arabitol; this is a relatively rare reaction 
in relation to aerobic bacteria.- 
Pathogenicity.— Human.— B. mucosus capsulatus has been isolated 
in a considerable proportion of cases of lobular pneumonia, but it 
practically never is the sole incitant of lobar pneumonia. Thus, 
Sisson and Thompson,^ and Belk^ have reported 51 cases of lobular 
pneumonia in which the organism was the causative agent. It 
is occasionally detected in purulent inflammations of the respiratory 
tract not pneumonic in character, in the purulent secretions of the 
nasal and frontal sinuses, in occasional cases of pericarditis and pleurisy, 
stomatitis and otitis media. The normal sputum occasionally contains 
the organism. 
^wi?72a/.— Subcutaneous inoculation into mice, rabbits or guinea- 
pigs frequently leads to abscess formation characterized by thick, 
viscid pus. Occasionally a generalized infection which results fatally 
takes place. 
Bacillus Rhinoscleromatis.— Rhinoscleroma, characterized by indu- 
rated granulomatous nodules of the mucous membrane of the nose, 
is ascribed to B. rhinoscleromatis by v. Frisch,^ Paltauf and v. Eisels- 
berg,^ and others. A satisfactory demonstration of the etiology of 
this infection is wanting, but organisms culturally like B. rhinosclero- 
matis have been isolated from the cells of Miculicz, large swollen cells 
with crescentric nuclei characteristically present in rhinoscleroma and 
demonstrated within them on section. 
Bacillus Ozaense.— Ozena, a disease of the nose characterized by a 
fetid catarrhal inflammation, is very frequently associated with the 
presence of large numbers of a member of the mucosus capsulatus 
group to which AbeF gave the name B. oza^nse. Horn^ and others 
however believe the Perez bacillus (see p. 267) is the etiological organ- 
ism in ozena. The organism has not been sharply separated from 
B. rhinoscleromatis and B. mucosus capsulatus, and its etiological 
relationship to ozena is still sub jndice. Autogenous vaccines of the 
organism have been used with varying success in the treatment of 
the disease. 
Bacillus Lactis Aerogenes.— This organism is an almost constant 
inhabitant of the upper part of the intestinal tract of nurslings; it 
is common in the intestinal contents of bottle-fed infants, and it 
frequently persists in small numbers in the adult intestinal tract. 
' Bacillus aminophilus is said to change histidin to histamine. Berthelot and Bert- 
rand: Conipt. rend. Acad. Sci., 1912, 154, 1643. 1826. 
2 Kendall: Bacteria as Chemical Reagents, Chem. and Mctall. Engineering, 1921, 
24, No. 2. 
•^ Am. Jour. Med. Sci., 1915, 150, 713. ' .lour. Infec. Dis., 1926, 38, 115. 
'■> Loc. cit. " Fortschr. d. Med., 1886, 4, 617, 649. 
' Xioc. cit. 
* Jour. Am. Med. Assn., 1915, 65, 788; Ann. Otol., Rhinol. and Laryngol., June, 1916. 
