Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Civil Government of Malta for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an Advisory Committee of the Royal Society.

Date:
1905-1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Reports of the Commission appointed by the Admiralty, the War Office, and the Civil Government of Malta for the investigation of Mediterranean fever / under the supervision of an Advisory Committee of the Royal Society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    25/992 (page 21)
    3. ON THE RECOVEEY OF THE MICROCOCCUS MELITENSIS FEOM THE UEINE, FtECES, AND SWEAT OF PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM MEDITERRANEAN FEVER. By Major W. H. Horrocks, R.A.M.C, Member Mediterranean Fever Commission. (Eeceivetl September 17, 1904.) ;Note.—Tlie work on the examination of urine, ffcces and mosquitoes lias been done in conjunction with Captain Kentiedy, R.A.M.C. 1. Examination of Urine. In my report on previous work performed at Gibraltar, it was pointed out that the ordinary restraining agents, such as carbolic acid, sodium taUrocholate, malachite green, etc., could not be depended upon to inhibit the growth of the micro-organisms usually found associated with the M. mditensis in the urine of Mediterranean fever cases. Accordingly, in the earlier work at Malta, attempts were made to isolate the Micrococcus by first enriching a known bulk of urine with broth, usually in the proportions of 1—1 and 1—3, and then, after varying periods of incubation at 37° C, plating the growths, which resulted, on nutrose agar. It was hoped that, under these con- ditions, the specific microbe would so multiply as to enable colonies to be detected by the plate method. A very short experience showed that the enrichment method was not satisfactory ; the extraneous organisms multiplied more vigorously than the M. melitensis, and the latter was completely crowded out. It was then decided to make use of the glucose-litmus-nutrose-agar plates, already mentioned in the Gibraltar report, and to add small quantities of urine, 0-25— 0'33 c.c, to these plates, allowing the urine to flow over and form a thin layer on the surface of the solidified agar. This procedure enabled the actual number of colonies of the Micrococcus passed in the urine to be ascertained. Before collecting the urine for investiga- tion, the genitalia were washed with carbolic acid lotion; the patient then passed urine, but the first portion, which acted as a flush to the urethra, was discarded. On the glucose-litmus-nutrose-agar plates, the colonies of the M. melitensis appeared as almost transparent deep blue rlrops; likely colonies were next fished, and made into an