Coccus

“ In 1883, Doctor Friere reported that yellow fever was caused by a coccus, Cryptococcus xanthogenicus and claimed that he could confer immunity by vaccination with attenuated cultures. Carmona y Valle of Mexico and Carlos Finlay of Havana considered that the Micrococcus tetragenus was the cause but Sternberg, investigating these claims, showed that these cocci had nothing to do with yellow fever. In his work Sternberg isolated an organism which he designated “X.”
Bacillus Icteroides.—In 1897, Sanarelli isolated an organism which he named Bacillus icteroides. ”

“ Etiology.—The causative organism, Micrococcus melitensis, is a small coccus, rather oval than round and about 0.4 micron in diameter. In morphology it is quite variable and may occur in pairs or in short chains and is Gram-negative. It emulsifies evenly and rapidly in a hanging-drop preparation and is nonmotile. Possibly on account of its showing a rather active Brownian motion there has been a reporting [239] of slight motility by some authorities. Very striking is the characteristic of very slow growth so that cultures on agar fail to show colonies before the fourth day. ”

“ That in itself is a matter of small importance. The mucous membrane is most delicate, but it has quite amazing capacities of repairing itself. The point is this. The water in that spring, and-- I'll be perfectly frank--the water in most of the surface springs in this particular locality, is simply swarming with pathogenic germs, and amongst them I identified this morning the as yet unnamed coccus which I had the honour to discover, and which is as deadly as the coma bacillus of Asiatic cholera, or--shall I say?--the highly specialised venom of the rattlesnake. ”

“ The virulence of the streptococcus of erysipelas, as pointed out by Fehleisen and Coley, is greatly exalted when the coccus is grown alongside the Bacillus prodigious and certain other saprophytic organisms which flourish at the body temperature. It is an easier matter to control the action of a non-multiplying poison, even though exceedingly active, than of one capable, under favourable conditions, of producing an indefinite amount of even a weaker poison. ”

“ Friedländer's Pneumo-bacillus is a capsulated oval coccus, assuming the form of a small bacillus. It is inconstant in pneumonia, unequally distributed, and scarce; it is aërobic, and facultatively anaërobic; it occasionally occurs in long forms and filaments; it is non-motile, non-liquefying, and has no spores; it does not stain by Gram's method, which stain is therefore used for differential diagnosis; it will grow fairly well in ordinary gelatine at 20° C.; and it is a denitrifying organism, and also an actively fermentative one, even fermenting glycerine. ”

“ When cultures of bacteria, such as B. prodigiosus, a red organism, lactic acid organisms, and even the yellow, liquefying coccus, so commonly found in the fore-milk, are artificially introduced into the udder, it has been found that no growth occurs and that in the course of a few days the introduced organisms actually disappear. ”

“ In a similar way we have the pus-causing grape coccus of a golden color (staphylococcus pyogenes aureus) . It grows with the individual plants arranged somewhat after the manner of a bunch of grapes, and when millions of them are collected together, the mass has a golden yellow hue. Again, we have the bacillus tuberculosis, the rod-shaped plant which is known to cause tuberculosis of the lungs, joints, brain, etc. ”

“ Medicinally the coccus was principally employed by the Greek and Latin physicians as an application to wounds and for inflamed eyes. It acquired a very high reputation among the Arab doctors as a cordial for internal administration, and the famous Confection of Alkermes, invented by Mesué the younger, who was contemporary with Avicenna, continued in popular favour up to the eighteenth century. ”

“ The genus brachytarsus is parasitic on coccus, and the grub, not the imago, is the enemy of the white wax insect. The Chinese, therefore, are not far wrong when they pay a lower price for the beetle-infested scales.
When a scale is plucked from the tree, an orifice where it was attached to the bark is disclosed. By this orifice the cocci are enabled to escape from the detached scales. If the scales are not detached, but remain fixed to the bark, it may be asked, “How are the cocci to find their way out?” ”

“ Not only do the endothelial cells of the liver contain parasites but those of the spleen, particularly the cells lining the venous sinuses as well as those of the pulp cords, the lymphatic glands and bone marrow. The parasites are present in the intestinal ulcerations of the terminal stages. Less frequently they are found in kidneys, adrenals, testicles, pancreas and lungs. Rarely, parasites may not be found at the autopsy of advanced cases. It is possible that the finding of coccus-like bodies in the cells of such cases may represent degenerated leishman bodies. ”

“ Staphylococcus pyogenes albus, the white coccus, acts like the aureus, but is more feeble in power. When this organism is found upon and in the skin, it is called staphylococcus epidermis albus, an organism which is the cause of stitch abscesses.
Streptococcus pyogenes is found in spreading suppurations and in very acute abscesses. About 16% of acute abscesses contain streptococci. ”

“ These trees are visited in the month of August by immense numbers of a small white Coccus, from the puncture of which a saccharine fluid exudes, and solidifies in little grains. The people go out before sunrise, and shake the grains of manna from the branches on to linen cloths, spread out beneath the trees. The exudation is also collected by dipping the small branches on which it is formed, into vessels of hot water, and evaporating the saccharine solution to a syrupy consistence, which in this state is used for sweetening food, or is mixed with flour to form a sort of cake. ”

“ The bacillus was first detected in the blood of patients suffering from the disease. It takes the form of a small, round-ended, oval cell, with marked polar staining, and hence having an appearance not unlike a diplococcus. In the middle there is a clear interspace, and the whole is surrounded with a thick capsule, stained only with difficulty. The organisms are often linked together in pairs or even chains, and exhibit involution forms. In culture the bacillus is even more coccal in form than in the body. ”

“ The abrasions made by these stones furnished convenient infection atria for septic microbes in the manure. In the pus obtained from the ulcers were found in abundance the bacillus coli commune, and a long streptococcus representing on an average from 20 to 40 cocci in a chain. Dr. Moore made pure cultures of these and produced the same symptoms in a cow by injecting the streptococcus subcutaneously in the back of the pastern, and in another animal by simply abrading the surface and rubbing on the streptococcus culture. ”

“ The pus microbes, cocci, streptococci, staphylococci, and bacilli, have been found and adduced as causes, also diplococci, the bacillus hæmorrhagicus of Kolb, the streptococcus of strangles, the microörganism of contagious pneumonia and that of influenza, with a variety of others too great and too inconstant to be accepted as proof of cause. The fact that rarely more than one animal suffers in the same stable at the same time might be held to oppose the idea of contagion and of a definite organized germ. ”

“ N part of a tree-like zooglœa with Cocci and short rods.—All of these spirilla, zooglœa, etc., which Zopf has connected with Clad. dichotoma, are according to Winogradsky, independent organisms.
Micrococcus ureæ produces urinal fermentation (transformation of urinal matter into ammonium carbonate) ; aerobic; round cells generally united to form bent chains or a zooglœa.—Several other kinds of Bacteria have the same action as this one: in damp soil containing ammonia-compounds, saltpetre-formations are produced by M. nitrificans and several different kinds of Bacteria. ”

“ Those which have been best studied are Schmidt-Mülheim’s micrococci, the Actinobacter polymorphus of Duclaux, the Bacillus lactis pituitosi of Löffler, the Bacillus lactis of Adametz, the Streptococcus hollandicus, and, finally, three others which are much commoner, Guillebeau’s bacillus, the Micrococcus Freudenreichii, and the Bacterium Hessii. These microorganisms act on the lactose, decomposing it and causing the formation of a kind of filamentous mucilage, which can be isolated by the addition of alcohol.
The mucilaginous change in milk can be prevented by ordinary methods of disinfection. ”

“ The two common pyogenetic organisms, Staphylococcus albus and brevis, show no virulence. Also the pneumococcus, though often present, must be raised in virulence before it can produce untoward results. The foulness of the mouth is supposed to be due to the colon bacillus and its allies, but those obtained from the mouth are innocuous. Also to enable the Oidium albicans to attack the mucous membrane there must be some slight inflammation or injury. The micro-organisms found in the stomach gain access to that organ in the food or by regurgitation from the small intestine. ”

“ Every care should be taken to avoid insect bites and other skin lesions. Laboratory workers must be careful in handling cultures of the micrococcus; the accidental introduction of the micrococcus into the conjunctival sac has sufficed to cause the disease.
When the diagnosis is sure, it is well to 'give a purge— none better than calomel and jalap— and to instruct the attendants to keep the patient's temperature systematically below 103° F. by cold sponging with vinegar and water or, if necessary, by cold bath or ice variously applied. ”

“ Tauber suggested that the infection might be spread by contact, especially to newly molted individuals or by actual ingestion of the bacteria by the cockroaches feeding on dead or dying individuals. All the roaches died after successful inoculation with the Micrococcus. The bacterial infection was associated with high total hemocyte counts and high percentages of mitotically dividing hemolymph cells (Tauber, 1940) ”

“ In a hanging-drop specimen some form of movement can practically always be observed, and its character must be carefully determined by noting the relative positions of adjacent micro-organisms.
(a) Brownian or molecular movement. Minute particles [Pg 80] of solid matter (including bacteria) , when suspended in a fluid, will always show a vibratory movement affecting the entire field, but never altering the relative positions of the bacteria. (Cocci exhibit this movement, but with the exception of the Micrococcus agilis, the cocci are non-motile.) ”

“ To be made into pills of the size of a coccus. Eleven were to be taken for a dose. The early London Pharmacopœias contained formulas for pilulæ cocciæ majores, from Rhazes, and pilulæ cocciæ minores, from Galen. Only the latter survived. In the P.L., 1746, the name of Pilulæ cocciæ minores was [153] changed to Pilulæ ex Colocynthide cum Aloe, and the formula ordered Socotrine aloes and scammony, of each 2 oz.; pulp of colocynth 1 oz.; oil of cloves, 2 drachms. ”

“ This organism has the power of transforming milk sugar and other saccharoses into lactic acid, with evolution of carbonic acid gas. It is rarely found in the saliva or mucilage of the teeth. In these are two micrococci, both of which cause the production of lactic acid, but which manifest differences in their development under cultivation. There are also two pigment forming bacteria, Micrococcus prodigiosus, which produces intensely red spots, and the yellow micrococcus of osteomyelitis. ”

“ The invading organism is usually one of the staphylococci, less frequently a streptococcus, and still less frequently one of the other bacteria capable of producing pus, such as the bacillus coli communis, the gonococcus, the pneumococcus, or the typhoid bacillus.
So long as the tissues are in a healthy condition they are able to withstand the attacks of moderate numbers of pyogenic bacteria of ordinary virulence, but when devitalised by disease, by injury, or by inflammation due to the action of other pathogenic organisms, suppuration ensues. ”

“ An infectious febrile affection of the sheep, chronic or acute, characterized by dulness, stiffness, or paresis, anorexia, thirst, disorder of the breathing and digestive organs, black diffluent blood, petechiæ, reddish effusions in the serosæ or connective tissue, and congestive or inflammatory lesions of the lungs, liver, kidneys and intestines. The presence of a cocco-bacillus (diplococcus, strepto-cocco-bacillus, pasteurellosa) in the lesions is especially characteristic. ”

“ Undue weight should not be given to this objection, as the essential accessory conditions of plethora, etc., are usually largely modified in cases of dystokia.
The microbiology of the affection leaves much to be desired. Coureur and Pottiez and later Van de Velde found a streptococcus in the blood. Trinchera, Nocard, and Cozette found the common pus cocci (staphylococcus pyogenes aureus, citreus and albus) a streptococcus and a colon bacillus in the liquid squeezed from the cotyledons, and in the liquid debris on the uterine mucosa. These microbes were not found in other organs. ”