Page:Bergey's manual of determinative bacteriology.djvu/255



rides. These are derived from cases of chol- era and have the serological and biochemical characteristics of 0-Group I, Vibrio chol- era. Group I strains are more common than those of Group II, which have, however, been isolated from epidemics with a high mortality. The phospholipid fraction is common to both tj^pes when isolated in the early part of an epidemic but is not found in strains of other groups. The harmless water vibrios, which are so heterogeneous serologically (Taylor and Ahuja, Indian Jour. Med. Res., 26, 1938, 8-32), form a single chemical group with a homogeneous structure. They fall into Group III, which differs in its protein structure from the authentic cholera vibrios and which re- sembles Group II in its polysaccharide. The vibrios of Group IV, which came from El Tor and from chronic vibrio carriers, are believed, on epidemiological grounds, to be harmless, although serological methods have failed to distinguish them from chol- erigenic vibrios. Group V, which, like III and IV, contains protein II, consists, like Group IV, of strains from chronic vibrio carriers. Group VI strains are only rarely isolated in nature, and representatives of this group are generally found among col- lections of old laboratory strains. They appear to be the result of polysaccharide variation from Group I after long-con- tinued growth on artificial media.

2. Vibrio berolinensis Xeisser, 1893. (Arch. f. Hyg., 19, 1893, 200.) be.ro.li.nen'sis. M.L. Berolinum place name, Berlin; M.L. adj. berolinensis of Berlin. Curved rods, somewhat smaller than those of Vibrio comma, frequently occurring in pairs. Pleomorphic. Motile by means of a single, polar flagellum. Gram-negative. Gelatin colonies: Small, grayish, slightly granular, fragmented; very slow liquefac- tion. Gelatin stab: Slow, napiform liquefaction. Agar slant: Grayish yellow, moist, glis- tening growth. Broth: Turbid, with gray pellicle. Litmus milk: No coagulation, no acid. Potato: Brownish streak. Indole produced. Nitrites produced from nitrates. Not pathogenic for mice, pigeons or guinea pigs. Aerobic, facultative. Optimum temperature, 37° C. Minimum, above 10° C. Maximum, less than 60° C. Source: Isolated from filtered Spree river water. Habitat: Presumably widely distributed in polluted water.

3. Vibrio metschnikovii GamaMia, 1888. {Vibrio metschnikovi (sic) Gamaleia, Ann. Inst. Past., 2, 1888, 482.) metsch.ni.ko'vi.i. Named for Metsch- nikoff, a Russian bacteriologist; M.L. mas. gen.n. metschnikovii of Metschnikoff. Curved rods, somewhat shorter and thicker than those of Vibrio comma. Long,