Studies on Bacterium Granulosis in Relation to Trachoma

Noguchi's discovery 1 of a bacterium which can be artificially cultivated and which produces granular lesions in the conjunctivae of monkeys has supplied a new approach in the field of trachoma investigation. Noguchi, Tilden and Tyler, 2 working with rhesus monkeys succeeded in inducing active, progressive lesions which lasted 8 or more months in the conjunctivae of 19% of a total of 159 rhesus monkeys, and only transient lesions (granulations which receded before the 8th month) in an additional 34.5%. Their results with 10 chimpanzees were as follows: Progressive lesions lasting 8 months or longer in 30%, and transient lesions in 50%. Two out of the 10 chimpanzees failed to react.

These statistics compare favorably with the findings of previous investigators working with fresh trachoma “virus”‡ obtained directly from trachomatous lesions. However, the long periods of incubation (up to 150 days), reported in the above studies, are in striking contrast to the much shorter periods (2 to 20 days) observed by other writers in experiments on both human subjects and various species of monkeys. 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

We§ have repeated some phases of Noguchi's work with 3 strains of B. granulosis, furnished by the Rockefeller Institute, and later with 2 others isolated by ourselves at the Pasteur Institute of Tunis and at Washington University. We employed 28 rhesus monkeys, 2 M. inuus, 1 baboon, and 1 callitriche.

Noguchi's technic as amended in the notes kindly sent by Dr. Flexner was followed. Olitzky's technic 8 of massaging the lids was also used in the latter part of the work.

We cite briefly 2 protocols as examples.

Inoculation with B. granulosis (Strain Tunis 34). M. inuus (Algerian magot) injected July 4, 1929, into the right eye with a freshly isolated culture. 16th day: both eyes showed a few, fine, granulations in the cul-de-sac and on the superior tarsi.