[Distribution of species of Moraxella and moraxella-like organisms in the nasopharynx of healthy human adults (author's transl].

By means of a lincomycin containing selective medium, gram-negative, oxidase-positive, non-motile, non-saccharolytic, penicillin-sensitive rods have been isolated from 24 of 165 healthy adults (13,9%). Three strains were lost, 7 strains were Moraxella osloensis (4,2%), 12 strains were Neisseria elongata (7,3%) and 2 strains were considered to be a subspecies of N. elongata (1.2%). By agglutination and immunodiffusion could be demonstrated that N. elongata is a serologically heterogenous species. The nasopharynx seems to represent the natural habitat of M. osloensis and N. elongata.