CHOLERA VIBRIO 575 
ture after it has l)eeii incubated at 37° C. for forty-ei^ht hours, and 
finally making agglutination tests with a high potency serum for the 
final agglutination of the organisms is almost invariably successful. 
Vibrio of Finkler and Prior (Vibrio Proteus).— The organism was 
first isolated and described by Finkler and Prior. ^ It was obtained 
from the dejecta of a case of acute enteritis and subsequently isolated 
from the dejecta of patients having cholera nostras. 
Synonyms.— Vibrio Proteus.— Perhaps identical with Miller's vibrio 
found in carious teeth in 1884.- 
Morphology.— Very much like the cholera vibrio except that the 
organism is somewhat larger, exhibits a greater degree of curvature, 
and is said to have slightly pointed ends. The organism occurs singly 
and in pairs, rarely in long spirals. Involution forms, however, are 
very common. There is a single polar flagellum, and the organism 
is actively motile. It stains readily with the ordinary anilin dyes and 
is Gram-negative. 
Isolation and Culture.— The organism grows readily upon artificial 
media, and liquefies gelatin with great rapidity, otherwise there is 
nothing characteristic about the growth in this medium. 
Growth on Artificial Media.— Gelatin stab cultures are rapidly lique- 
fied. There is not the "air bubble" appearance which is characteristic 
of stab cultures of the cholera organism ordinarily. On agar there is 
a rapidly spreading growth which becomes thick, moist and slightly 
viscid. Broth is clouded and there is a heavy sediment and a pellicle. 
Blood serum is rapidly liquefied and milk is coagulated. Acid is 
formed in glucose. 
Products of Growth.- The nitroso-indol reaction is given very slightly, 
frequently not at all. Indol, however, is produced in large amounts. 
Proteolytic ferments dissolving gelatin, serum and casein are formed 
by Vibrio proteus. Cultures have a foul odor. According to Kupria- 
now^ levorotatory lactic acid is formed from glucose. 
Bacteriological Diagnosis.— Diagnosis depends upon the isolation of 
curved organisms resembling the cholera vibrio, which do not react 
with a cholera immune serum. 
Pathogenesis.— //«/»an.— According to MetchnikofT, an agar culture 
eaten by man may result in a slight intestinal disturbance. This, 
however, probably has no significance. 
Animal.— The intraperitoneal inoculation of cultures of Vibrio 
proteus causes a fatal peritonitis. According to MetchnikoffV by 
feeding cultures to animals previoush' treated with sodium carbonate 
and laudanum to reduce the acidity and intestinal peristalsis, irregular 
results are obtained. Occasionally a profuse diarrhea results, but it 
is rarely or never fatal. In pigeons inoculation into the pectoral 
» Deutsch. med. Wchnschr., 1884, 10, 632. 
2 Miller: Mikroorganismen d. Mundhohle. 
3 Arch. f. Hyg., 189.3, 19, 282. 
< Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1893, 7, 562. 
