Autopsy findings of nonacid-fast bacteria in scleroderma

Microscopic tissue sections stained for bacteria were studied from autopsy material from a fatal case of scleroderma (progressive systemic sclerosis). Extra- and intracellular, variable-sized, pleomorphic but predominantly coccoid bacteria were observed in some organs such as in heart, lungs, adrenals, kidneys, pancreas, skin, and in the connective tissue. An attempt is made to correlated the ante-mortem skin culture material with the post-mortem histopathologic finding of bacteria. It is hypothesized that these microbes observed in tissue might represent in vivo, cell wall deficient L forms, which may be implicated in the pathogenesis of scleroderma.