INFECTIOUS JAUNDICE 597 
in 19161 by Inada, Ido, Ploki, Kaneko and Ito summarized their 
experiments of the transmissibihty of infectious jaundice from human 
cases to guinea-pigs, together with a description of the organism and 
its cultivation. 
Huebener and Reiter,- and Uhlenhuth and Fromme,^ in Germany, 
found that the blood of jaundiced patients they studied contained a 
dehcate, actively motile, spiral organism which could be transmitted 
to guinea-pigs, inducing infection in them. The blood and urine of 
these infected guinea-pigs was infectious for other guinea-pigs. 
Huebener and Fromme named these organisms Spirochjieta nodosa. 
Reiter^ announced the cultivation of the organism in diluted rabbit 
serum under anaerobic conditions. It was stated by Huebener and 
Fromme that the serum of individuals convalescent from infectious 
jaundice possessed protective and curative properties. 
It is not definitely proven at present that the disease studied by 
the German and Japanese investigators is the same, but the discovery 
of the spiral organisms in wild rats in Japan, Europe and America, 
and careful studies of the different strains, suggests that the organisms 
are practically identical. ^ If this be the case the priority belongs 
entirely to the Japanese. 
Morphology. —Leptospira icterohsemorrhagise is a smooth-bodied, 
spiral organism, closely and regularly coiled, cylindrical in section, 
with sharply-pointed ends; one or both ends are curved or hooked in 
the living state, but this feature may be lost in stained preparations. 
The average diameter is about 0.25 micron, and the average length 
about 14 to 15 microns. 
Cultivation. —The organism is aerobic," and grows wqth moderate 
luxuriance in media containing 1 part of rabbit or horse serum, ^ 
2 parts of Ringer's fluid, to which may be added one-fifth the volume 
of 1.5 per cent neutral agar. Growth occurs between 25° C. and 37° C. 
The organism does not grow in urine unless the reaction is neutral 
or slightly alkaline; an acid reaction in general is inhibitive to growth. 
Carbohydrates are not fermented.^ Feces, bile, or bile salts are 
destructive to the organism. 
Leptospira icterohiemorrhagise differs from Leptospira icteroides, 
with which it has many points of resemblance, in that the former pro- 
duces lesions in guinea-pigs which are hemorrhagic and nephritic, 
while those of the latter are icteric as well as nephritic.^ Immuno- 
1 Jour. Exp. Med., 1916, 23, 377. 
2 Deutsch. med. Wchnschr., 1915, 41, 1275; 1916, 42, 1. 
= Med. KHn., 1915, 11, 1202, 1264, 1296, 1375. 
* Deutsch. med. Wchnschr., 1916, 42, 1282. 
* A comparison of strains of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagise from European, Asian 
and American sources is confirmatory of the identity of the organisms from the different 
countries. Noguchi: Jour. Exp. Med., 1918, 27, 575. 
« Noguchi: Jour. Exp. Med. 1918, 27, 593. 
'' Guinea-pig or sheep serum is not as suitable as rabbit or horse serum. 
8 Akatsu: Jour. Exp. Med., 1917, 25, 375. 
9 Noguchi: Jour. Exp. Med., 1920, 31, 135. 
