[Report 1935] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City.

  • Edinburgh (Scotland). City Council.
Date:
1935
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1935] / Medical Officer of Health, Edinburgh City. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    59/248 (page 45)
    The Jensen-Lowenstein medium gave positive results in all save two specimens, one of which was milk containing bovine tubercle bacilli, and the other sputum in which the organism was probably bovine m type. It may be noted here that while glycerin promotes the growth of the human type of tubercle bacillus, a non-glycerin medium is required for the bovine type. The use of Dorset s egg and glycerin-egg media was then discontinued and the Jensen-Lowenstein medium without glycerin was substituted (NGL). In a series of 51 sputa, 1 cerebro-spinal fluid and 1 urine, all with positive cultures, the results were as follows :— L + NGL + . . .51 L + NGL - ... 2 At the present time 452 specimens have been cultured, the combined film and culture results being as follows :— * Cultured on Lowenstein (L) medium only. t Organisms morphologically identical with but not necessarily B. tuberculosis. The comparative value of the two methods of examination is illustrated by the following table of positive results, two milks, positive in films but negative on culture, being excluded on the ground that morphologically indentical organisms other than B. tuberculosis may be present in milk :— Positive by film and/or culture examination ,, cultural examination . „ film examination As far as the present investigation has proceeded, the adoption of cultural methods has revealed the presence of acid-fast bacilli with growths typical of the tubercle baci us in a certain proportion of specimens, mainly sputa, which, by careful film examination alone, were considered to be negative. While there is no reason to doubt that *■ e®e are tubercle bacilli, representative strains are at present under examination y t e animal inoculation test to confirm their identity. 124. 122. 91. If the combined film and culture tests be taken to yield the maximum positive results, then film examination alone realised only 73 per cent, of that maximum.