Ruth Tunnicliff

A SIMPLE METHOD OF AGGLUTINATION OF MENINGOCOCCI

The following is a simple and rapid method for differentiating by agglutination the meningococcus from other gram-negative cocci grown from the nasopharynx of meningitis patients and contacts: Equal parts of horse serum, normal or antimeningitic, whole human blood in sodium citrate solution (1 part to 2 parts of 2 per cent. sodium citrate in salt solution), and a suspension of organisms are incubated ten minutes, smeared on a glass slide, stained and examined microscopically. In the mixture with normal horse serum there is, as a rule, very little or no clumping of the meningococcus, while in the one containing antimeningitic serum there is decided agglutination. In the event that cultures of organisms, meningococci or otherwise, should be agglutinated in mixtures with normal horse serum, it would be necessary to use dilutions of the serum, normal as well as immune, in order to bring out the specific agglutinins of the immune

An Anaerobic Bacillus Isolated from a Case of Chronic Bronchitis

In making bacteriological examinations of the sputum from a case of chronic bronchitis, suspected of being tuberculous, an anaerobic bacillus was found to be the predominating organism. So far as I have been able to determine, this bacillus has not been previously described. The patient is a man 62 years old. Until four years of age he was perfectly healthy. At that time he had a severe attack of pneumonia, followed by repeated attacks of lobar and bronchopneumonia. About 40 years ago the patient began to suffer probably from tuberculosis, having repeated attacks of chills, fever, and sweating for eight years, getting better for a year and then worse again. At this time he had a very severe attack of lobar pneumonia, and a pronounced pleurisy with effusion. Since then he has suffered from similar attacks of pleurisy with more or less bronchitis; 19 years ago he had a very severe attack of pleurisy with effusions lasting several weeks; these repeated attacks of bronchitis and pleurisy, which always disappeared after a few weeks, persisted until four years ago, since which time only bronchitis has been troublesome. Six months ago the patient was ill with an attack of bronchitis, much worse than those previous, and continued with a profuse expectoration until the vaccine treatment now to be described was employed. The bacillus in the sputum is about two microns long by onefourth micron in width. It was found in enormous numbers generally in clumps. Some bacilli were seen inside of leukocytes. They were found as a rule in greyish masses in the sputum. Altho resembling tubercle bacilli a good deal, they were not acidfast nor did they retain Grams stain. They stained uniformly

A Study of Streptococcus Immunization

While engaged in the study of streptococcus infections and immunity our attention was directed to some results obtained in connection with tubercle, typhoid, and glanders bacilli by Levy, Blumenthal, and Marxer.1 They obtained a considerable degree of immunity in animals by the injection of bacteria which had been killed by chemically indifferent agents, such as sugars, glycerin, and urea. Virulent bacteria, devitalized by suspension in glycerin or strong solutions of sugars and urea, could be injected in relatively large quantities with little or no apparent effect upon the animal, but the injections were followed by a marked immunity for the corresponding living bacteria. Having employed injections of streptococci killed by heat in the treatment of cases of streptococcus infection (see p. 585) without satisfactory results, we undertook to determine in animals the effects of the injection of virulent streptococci, killed by suspensions in a strong solution of galactose, and to compare the results thus obtained with those observed when streptococci killed by heat were injected. Rabbits were used in all the experiments, and the streptococcus cultures employed were made virulent for rabbits by passages through this animal. The streptococci were grown upon the surfaces of bloodagar slants in ordinary test-tubes. After 24 hours at 350 C. the fluid of condensation was removed and the bacteria upon the surface suspended in sterile, 25 per cent solution of galactose. Two c.c. of the solution was employed for each slant. The suspension was kept in the incubator for 48 or 72 hours, being shaken several times in the interval. The suspension was then distributed in small test-tubes,