Agglutination of Bacilli of the Alkaligenes, Colon and Typhoid Groups by the Blood Serum of Cases of Cerebro-Spinal Fever

Abstract

By means of a method introduced by one of us (Wilson, 1907), a bacillus closely resembling B. faecalis alkaligenes was recently isolated from Belfast tap water. This bacillus, for the purposes of this paper, will be spoken of as B. Grosvenor, it having been attained from a house in Grosvenor Road. We find that emulsions of this bacillus are agglutinated, often in high dilutions, by the blood serum from practically every case of the cerebro-spinal meningitis at present existing in epidemic form in Belfast.