PURE CULTIVATION OF SPIROCHAETA PHAGEDENIS (NEW SPECIES), A SPIRAL ORGANISM FOUND IN PHAGEDENIC LESIONS ON HUMAN EXTERNAL GENITALIA.
1. A hitherto undescribed spiral organism has been isolated in pure culture from a case of mild phagedenic ulcer on the external genitalia of a woman. For this organism the name Spirochoeta phagedenis is proposed. 2. Spirochoeta phagedenis is a strict anaerobe and grows in the presence of fresh tissue in ascitic agar. It produces no apparent change in the media, but a somewhat offensive odor develops in the culture tube. 3. Spirochoeta phagedenis incites a slight inflammatory reaction in the skin of a Macacus rhesus monkey and in the skin and testicles of rabbits. 4. Its etiological relation to the phagedenic lesions on the external genitalia has not yet been determined.
Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York.
H
H
Noguchi