THE RÓLE OF STREPTOCOCCI IN EXPERIMENTAL POLIOMYELITIS OF THE MONKEY

Abstract

Certain investigators have reported that streptococci isolated from polio-myelitic tissues may be considered as secondary or agonal invaders. Results of experiments here reported show that they occur as contaminants introduced into cultures during the grinding of tissues. The streptococci occurred in some cultures in pure growth and in others admixed with other ordinary bacterial species. No etiological relation of the streptococci to poliomyelitis could be determined. The serological reactions of agglutination and precipitation, and the fermentation reactions of microorganisms obtained from the air and from non-poliomyelitic and poliomyelitic monkey brains, indicate that bacteria from any of these sources differ markedly. Intracerebral injection with cultures of streptocacci, irrespective of source, induced in rabbits a purulent type of meningo-encephalitis, often associated with streptococcic septicemia. This result is at marked variance with any known effects of the true filterable virus of poliomyelitis in man and monkeys.