Filter-Passing Anaerobic Bacteria of the Upper Respiratory Tract in Health and During Acute Respiratory Disease

Abstract

Gram-negative anaerobic filter-passing organisms were recovered in 92 of 114 examinations in widely separated communities and under field laboratory conditions. Positive cultures were obtained from normal persons, from common colds (acute and later stages), and from tracheitis, influenza, and dengue. The strains cultivated are prevalent in normal throats, as well as in the nasopharynx of persons with colds. Recoveries were 54-100%, the highest % being from examinations in the tropics. Types of organism isolated were similar to those found elsewhere by Olitsky and Gates, Olitsky and McCartney, Dochez, Noble, etc. Other types were isolated, which could not be classified by Olitsky''s classification. Bacterium pneu-mosintes was isolated from a case of acute nasopharyn-gitis, and pneumosintes-like organisms were present in 10 other cultures[long dash]3 from normal persons, 5 from colds, and 2 from influenza cases. Some changes in technique were instituted to suit local conditions. Blood-agar pour-plates proved superior to blood-agar surface-plates; and hormone blood broth, more satisfactory than Smith- Noguchi medium, under field conditions. Most satisfactory results were obtained when washings were taken in or near the laboratory, and when a negative pressure of 50 cm. of Hg was obtained in filtering nasopharyngeal washing through a Berkefeld (V) filter. The 2 series of examinations showing recovery of filter-passing anaerobes by nasopharyngeal swabs and mouth washings are too small to allow conclusions. Results indicate the presence of this group of organisms in material from the mouth as well as from nose and nasopharynx. Previous in-vestigators have pointed out the lack of constancy in morphology and colony formation among this group. The authors noted this characteristic throughout their studies, more particularly during the study in St. John, where they were unable to identify many of the strains by Olitsky''s classification.