TREPONEMES OR GLASS?

Abstract

To the Editor. —In reference to the article entitled Uveitis and Intraocular Treponemes by Randolph Whitfield, MD, and Emil Wirostko, MD, ( Arch Ophthal 84 :12-15, 1970), I would like to point out the similarity between the treponemes shown in their photomicrograph and what we have termed in our article Treponema-like Forms and Artifacts by Ernesto N. Rios Montenegro, MD, William G. Nicol, MD, and J. Lawton Smith, MD, in the American Journal of Ophthalmology ( 68 :197-205, 1969). The small-corkscrew-like form in the upper right hand corner of their photomicrograph on page 14 is what I consider a typical glass shaving. This can be most easily seen if their photomicrograph is compared carefully to Fig 4 to 6 in our article. Glass shavings do not show true fluorescence in a fluorescent antibody darkfield preparation, but their mild bluish or greenish color can be confused easily with true fluorescence. Whitfield