Ammonia produced in slight amounts from urea. Aerobic. Temperature relations: Optimum, 37° C. No growth at 6° or at 45° C. Killed at 59° C. Optimum pH (in an agar medium), be- tween 7.0 and 7.2. Comments: Strains of this species show wide differences in urease and catalase activity in cells of smooth-intermediate colonial types (Sanders and Warner, Amer. Jour. Vet. Res., lit, 1953, 388). Distinctive character: Requires no in- creased CO2 tension. Source: Isolated by Bruce (op. cit., 1887, 161) from the spleen in fatal cases of Malta fever. Habitat: Chief host is the milch goat. The cause of undulant fever (brucellosis) in man, of abortion in goats and of a wasting disease of chickens. May infect cows and hogs and may be e.xcreted in their milk. Infectious for all domestic animals. 2. Brucella abortus (Schmidt and Weis, 1901) Meyer and Shaw, 1920. (Bacil- lus of abortion, Bang, Ztschr. f. Thiermed., 1, 1897, 241; Bacterium abortus Schmidt and Weis, Bakterierne, 1901, 266; Meyer and Shaw, Jour. Inf. Dis., 27, 1920, 173.) ab.or'tus. L. noun abortus, abortus abor- tion. The morphological and cultural char- acters are similar to those of Brucella meli- tensis with the following exceptions: Re- quires 5 per cent CO 2 for isolation; becomes aerobic after several transfers; the brown- ing of the medium in agar slant culture is less marked; S cultures can be differentiated from those of B. melitensis, but not from those of B. suis, by the agglutinin absorp- tion test. Optimum pH for growth (in an agar medium), between 7.0 and 7.2; optimum pH for isolation (in an agar medium with an atmosphere of 5 per cent CO 2), between 7.5 and 7.8. pH drops to 7.1 or 7.2. Source: Isolated from the tissues and milk of infected cattle and hogs and from blood in human cases of undulant fever. Habitat: Chief host is the milch cow. Causes infectious abortion in cattle; the same effects are produced in mares, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs and all other domestic animals. Causes undulant fever (brucel- losis) in man and a wasting disease in chickens. 3. Brucella suis Huddleson, 1929. (Or- ganism resembling Bacillus abortus, Anony- mous, U.S.D.A. Ann. Rept. Secy. Dept., Rept. of Chief Bur. Animal Ind., 1914, 86 (30) ; authorship established by Traum in North Amer. Vet., 1, No. 2, 1920; de- scribed as Bacillus abortus by Good and Smith, Jour. Bact., 1, 1916, 415; Huddleson, Undulant Fever Symposium, Amer. Pub. Health Assoc, (Oct., 1928) 1929, 24; also see Michigan Agr. Exp. Sta. Tech. Bull. 100, 1929, 12.) su'is. L. noun sus the hog, swine; L. gen. noun suis of the hog. The morphological and cultural charac- ters are similar to those of Brucella meli- tensis. S cultures of Brucella suis can be differ- entiated from S cultures of Brucella meliten- sis, but not from S cultures of Brucella abortus, by the agglutinin absorption test. Source: Isolated from urogenital and many other organs of swine. Habitat: Chief host is the hog. Causes abortion in swine, undulant fever (brucel- losis) in man and a wasting disease in chickens. Also infectious for horses, dogs, cows, monkeys, goats and laboratory ani- mals. Genus IV. Haemophilus Winslow et al., 1917.* {Hemophilus (sic) Winslow, Broadhurst, Buchanan, Krumwiede, Rogers and Smith, Jour. Bact., 2, 1917, 561.) Hae.mo'phi.lus. Or. noim haema blood; Gr. adj. philus loving; M.L. mas.n. Haemophilus the blood lover.
- Prepared by Dr. Margaret Pittman, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland,
August, 1955.
