Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-68ccn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-13T02:36:19.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Differentiation of the Staphylococci, with Special reference to the Precipitin Reactions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

Leonard S. Dudgeon  and
J. W. Hope Simpson
Leonard S. Dudgeon
Affiliation:
From the Department of Pathology, St Thomas's Hospital.
J. W. Hope Simpson
Affiliation:
From the Department of Pathology, St Thomas's Hospital.
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

(1) Fifty S. aureus and 30 S. albus strains obtained from infective processes in man have been investigated. Such cultural reactions as were completed did not differentiate between strains of S. albus and S. aureus, or serve to group these cocci; we found, however, that 94 per cent, of the S. aureus strains fermented mannite, as opposed to 40 per cent, of the S. albus strains. These results are in accordance with the findings of Cummins and Cumming (1913) and Hine (1922).

(2) A close degree of correlation between pathogenicity for rabbits, pigment formation, and biochemical activity was noticed among the S. aureus strains. Out of 19 pathogenic strains of S. aureus, 9 showed medium pigmentation and 10 were strongly pigmented.

(3) Anti-sera were prepared by inoculating rabbits with living cultures, 24 hours old, of the various strains. The S. aureus rabbits and a few of the S. albus received two preliminary doses of the specific vaccine, but little or no protective action was afforded from the doses of living cocci injected.

(4) Nineteen out of 25 cultures of S. aureus killed rabbits, but only 3 out of 18 cultures of S. albus.

(5) Fifteen strains of S. aureus and 15 of S. albus were used for the preparation of anti-sera, and tested against as many antigens as possible, by the methods described by Dudgeon and Bamforth.

(6) Cultures of S. aureus produced efficient anti-sera more readily than S. albus cultures, but when an active S. albus anti-serum was produced, it appeared to be as effective as the S. aureus anti-sera.

(7) A marked difference in efficiency between S. aureus and S. albus antigens was noted. S. aureus antigens were almost three times more active than S. albus antigens.

(8) Pathogenic strains of S. aureus and S. albus produced more efficient precipitin antigens than non-pathogenic.

(9) From the microscopical examination of the deposit formed in the precipitin reactions, a difference was noted between S. aureus and S. albus antigens.

(10) The study of the precipitin reactions has failed to show any hard and fast dividing line between staphylococci of different colours, or of different cultural reactions. We are inclined to agree with Winslow, Rothberg and Parsons (1920) and with Dudgeon's original view in 1908, that the pyogenic, Gram-positive staphylococci must be regarded as members of one common family.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Hygiene , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , January 1928 , pp. 160 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1928

References

REFERENCES

Andrewes, F. W. and Gordon, M. (1906). Biological Characters of Staphylococci Pathogenic to Man. Report of the Medical Officer 1905–1906, Appendix B, No. 7, p. 543.Google Scholar
Bigger, J. W., Boland, C. R. and O'Meara, R. A. Q. (1927). Variant Colonies of S. aureus. J. Path. and Bact. 30, 261.Google Scholar
Bigger, J. W., Boland, C. R. and O'Meara, R. A. Q.A New Method of Preparing Staphylococcal Haemolysins. J. Path. and Bact. p. 271.Google Scholar
Buchanan, R. E. (1915). Nomenclature of Coccaceae. J. Infect. Dis. 17, 528.Google Scholar
Cummins, L. and Cumming, C. C. (1913). A Preliminary Note on the Differentiation of Staphylococci. J. Roy. Army Med. Corps, pp. 20–499.Google Scholar
Dudgeon, L. S. (1908). The Differentiation of the Staphylococci. J. Path. and Bact. 12, 242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dudgeon, L. S. and Bamforth, J. (1925). On Staphylococcal Precipitin Reactions. J. Hygiene, 23, 375.Google ScholarPubMed
Hine, T. G. M. (1922). Serological Classification of the Staphylococci. Lancet, ii, p. 1380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellon, R. R. and Caldwell, D. W. (1926). Studies in Microbe Heredity. XI. The Genetic Origin of Staphylococcus albus and aureus from Common Ancestral Strains. Amer. J. of Bact. 12, 409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Winslow, C. E. (1908). The Systematic Relationship of the Coccaceae. John Wiley & Sons, N.Y.Google Scholar
Winslow, C. E., Rothberg, W. and Parsons, E. I. (1920). Note on the classification of the White and Orange Staphylococci. Amer. J. Bact. 5, 145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar