Search for Microörganisms of the Pleuropneumonia Group in Rheumatic and Non-Rheumatic Children

Summary

Cultures on 30% ascitic fluid agar of material obtained by swabbing the eyes, nose, and throat of rheumatic and non-rheumatic children and a few adults failed to reveal any pleuro-pneumonia-like colonies. No success was encountered in additional attempts to isolate microorganisms of the pleuro-pneumonia group from the blood of children in the febrile phase of acute rheumatic fever or Still's disease, from the joint fluid during the first attack of rheumatic polyarthritis, and from rheumatic pericardial, myo-cardial, and valvular tissues obtained at necropsy. Cultures of 58 pairs of excised tonsils, however, yielded in 3 cases peculiar microscopic colonies (“X” colonies) which were 20 to 40 μ in size and strikingly similar to those of certain members of the pleuro-pneumonia group. The “X” colonies could not be passaged beyond the first generation, and their nature remains unknown.