NOTE ON THE BACTERIOLOGY OF THE SPINAL FLUID IN POLIOMYELITIS AND SCARLET FEVER

Abstract

During the routine examination of a patient admitted to the contagious ward of the Cook County Hospital with a diagnosis of scarlet fever, a lumbar puncture was performed because of marked rigidity of the neck. The spinal fluid was under increased pressure, the cell count was 28, principally of lymphocytes, and the globulin tests were positive. The spinal fluid was inoculated into dextrose broth and dextrose agar, and a pure culture of a small gram-positive coccus was obtained within thirty-six hours. The organism exhibited both the cultural and the morphologic characteristics of the micrococcus described by Nuzum 1 as occurring in the cerebrospinal fluid in poliomyelitis. Repeated inoculations yielded pure cultures of the same micro-organism. From the nasal discharge a micrococcus was obtained resembling the organism in the spinal fluid. The organism from the nasal secretion was agglutinated by the antipoliomyelitic serum 2 in a dilution of 1:500; control organisms