THE ROLE OF STREPTOCOCCI IN EXPERIMENTAL POLIOMYELITIS OF THE MONKEY

It is the opinion of Bull, that the streptococci recovered from poliomyelitic tissues, while having no etiological or pathological relationship to the virus of poliomyelitis, occur as secondary invaders in the disease. Smillie and Amoss indicated that the bacteria may be agonal invaders. The results of the experiments reported in this paper point to another source of the streptococci. They occur as contaminants which are introduced into the cultures during the process of grinding tissues. The source of the streptococcus may therefore be the air of the place in which the cultures are made. We have come to this conclusion because first, the tissues of which cultures yielded streptococci were derived from a number of monkeys with experimental poliomyelitis still in a vigorous state. Secondly, when the tissues were ground bacteria were noted much more frequently in their cultures than in those in which fragments of the same brains were used. Thirdly, microorganisms occurred more often in cultures made in the routine laboratory than in a special room where asepsis was carried to the extreme of a major surgical operation on man. Fourthly, streptococci were obtained from the air of the places where cultures were made. Finally, there is no correlation between the cultures of two portions of the same brain. The streptococci occurred in some cultures in pure growth and in others admixed with other ordinary species of bacteria. The latter were often found, in turn, in pure culture and what applies to streptococci, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, applies equally to the staphylococci, diphtheroids, spore-bearing rods, and other miscellaneous, familiar microorganisms. We could not determine that there exists any etiological relation of the streptococci to poliomyelitis. The fermentation reactions of the microorganisms obtained from the air, from non-poliomyelitic and poliomyelitic monkey brains indicate that bacteria from any of these sources are markedly different. So also with the serological reactions of agglutination and precipitation. Furthermore no agglutination was observed when the serum of monkeys convalescent from experimental poliomyelitis was mixed with any of the streptococci recovered or those received directly or indirectly from Rosenow. Moreover, the intracerebral injection with cultures, irrespective of their source, induced in rabbits a purulent type of meningoencephalitis, often associated with streptococcic septicemia. This result is at marked variance with any known effects of the true filtrable virus of poliomyelitis in man and in the monkey.