THE INTESTINAL FLORA IN MOUSE TYPHOID INFECTION.
The normal flora of laboratory mice at The Rockefeller Institute, fed on a bread and milk diet, was determined. Bacillus acidophilus and Bacillus bifidus outnumber the Bacillus coli, Bacillus acidi lactici, and Bacillus coli communior group about twenty-five to one. White and yellow cocci which may or may not liquefy gelatin are occasionally noted; spirochetal and vibrio forms and yeasts are usually seen in stained preparations. This flora does not change when mice are artificially infected per os with a strain of mouse typhoid bacilli (Bacillus pestis cavice) and is the same in the animals which resist the infection as in those which succumb. Mice fed on a meat diet and showing a colon, Bacillus diffluens, and Bacillus welchii flora do not differ in susceptibility to mouse typhoid from the normal mice fed on bread and milk and showing the above acidophilus flora.
Laboratories of The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
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Webster