Intestinal spirochaetosis

An abnormal condition of the large intestine is described in which the surface epithelium is infested by short spirochaetes. Diagnosis can be made by light microscopy. A review of 14 cases diagnosed by rectal biopsy and 62 cases involving the appendix shows no consistent symptom complex. The possible significance is discussed.

The mouse intestinal microflora with emphasis on the strict anaerobes

The various components of the intestinal microflora in the mouse become established according to a definite time sequence; the strict anaerobes are the last groups of bacteria to reach their maximum population levels, 14-16 days after birth. The multiplication of these strict anaerobes in the mouse intestine seems to depend upon the prior multiplication of other bacterial species, and coincides with the ingestion of food other than maternal milk. These two conditioning factors may correspond to the establishment of a suitably reduced Eh potential and to the provision of certain metabolites. Once established, the strict anaerobes constitute by far the largest percentage of the total intestinal microflora; most of them are associated in a viable form with the mucosa. In normal animals they persist at very high levels throughout the life span. However, their populations can be drastically reduced by dietary manipulation of the animal, by administration of vancomycin, or by certain disease processes of the intestine. The strict anaerobic bacteria seem to play an important, and perhaps essential role in the maintenance of the anatomic structures and physiological functions of the intestine. They also seem to hold in check several species of intestinal bacteria, in particular the coliform bacilli.

Unusual Sphaerophorus species from the large intestine of man

An obligately anaerobic, gram-negative microorganism identified as a Sphaerophorus species was recovered from the fecal material of two cancer (chronic myelogenous leukemia and idiopathic thrombocythemia) patients receiving cobalt radiation therapy. The organism, isolated on sheep blood-agar, exhibited extreme pleomorphism (rods, filaments, and spheroids) and was a major component of the anaerobic fecal microflora. In one patient the numbers of Sphaerophorus species (designated as isolate 6-13-68), Bacteroides species, and Clostridium perfringens declined after irradiation; however, they were stable in this same patient after a second therapeutic dose of radiation. The numbers of anaerobes in the other patient remained fairly consistent after radiation. The biochemical and morphological characteristics and carbohydrate fermentation reactions of isolate 6-13-68 most closely resembled those of Sphaerophorus ridiculosis.

Transfer of infectious drug resistance in microbially defined mice

Germ-free mice were intentionally associated with drug-resistant donor strains of Escherichia coli known to carry R factors and with drug-sensitive recipient strains. In vivo transfer of R factors was observed in all experiments, involving five different donor-recipient combinations. The number of converted recipients varied, depending upon the donor-recipient combination, but in all cases it was restricted by limiting numbers of either recipient or donor strains in the digestive tract of the microbially defined mice. Converted recipients were detected in fecal material as early as 5.5 hr after mice were associated with donor and recipient bacteria. Donors, recipients, and converted recipients were detectable in the stomach, small intestine, cecum, and large intestine of the microbially defined mice and their suckling young.

Postoperative clostridial infections in Britain

Eighty-five cases of clostridial infection, including 56 cases of gas gangrene, followed "clean" surgical operations performed in British hospitals in the course of two years. Nearly all the serious infections followed amputations of the leg for ischaemia or other operations on the leg in which a foreign body was implanted. All the infections were sporadic, and the evidence suggested that the infecting organism usually came from the bowel of the patient. Nearly half of the operations were performed in modern theatres with satisfactory ventilation and unexceptionable arrangements for the sterilization of instruments and dressings.Skin sterilization was often carried out perfunctorily or with agents with poor sporicidal activity. Total eradication of spores from the skin is, however, difficult to achieve, and recontamination may occur during the operation. Hence it is considered justifiable to give penicillin prophylactically to the small group of patients at serious risk from postoperative gas gangrene.