Smith J
J Hyg (Lond). 1923 Oct;22(1):1-5. doi: 10.1017/s0022172400008019.
Much work has already been done in connection with the differentiation of true diphtheria bacilli from diphthomorphic organisms. Some observers have maintained that all disease producing strains could be distinguished from non-pathogenic types by their sugar reactions. Others have laid much stress on some particular forms of virulence test. More recently serological classification has been attempted in order to help to solve this problem.With regard to sugar reactions Graham-Smith (1908) found that certain strains produced acid in media containing saccharose, while Hine (1913), on the other hand, maintained that no true diphtheria bacillus could ferment this sugar. Eagleton and Baxter (1922) have shown that diphtheria bacilli, virulent and non-virulent, ferment glucose but do not produce any change in saccharose. Jordan and his collaborators (1922) have found that virulent and non-virulent bacilli fermented glucose and maltose and produced no change in saccharose and that their action on dextrin was variable.Work on the serological classification of these organisms has also shown some considerable variation. Havens (1920) isolated 206 strains of diphtheria bacilli. These represented cultures from acute cases, release cultures and cultures from healthy carriers. He found that these 206 strains could be divided into two serological groups, one group containing 169 strains, the other 37. There was no evidence of any cross agglutination. Durand (1920) isolated 255 strains of typical diptheria bacilli and after excluding those strains which would not form stable suspensions divided them into five groups, A. B. C. D. and E. containing 16, 8, 25, 61 and 40 strains respectively. Eighty-seven strains were found to be inagglutinable by these five sera but nevertheless could absorb agglutinins from such sera. His final figures for the five groups of bacilli are 18, 8, 31, 76 and 51. Durand and Guerin (1921) in a further paper showed that small isolated outbreaks were always due to the same type of bacillus. They also found that healthy carriers gave the same type of bacillus as was found in the cases arising from these sources of infection. Bell (1922) isolated 133 strains of B. diphtheriae indifferently collected from cases and carriers. He was able to agglutinate 80 per cent. of these strains by three monovalent sera. Group I contained 17 strains, Group II 8 strains, Group III 80 strains.In view of the results which have just been described it has appeared important to investigate further a considerable number of strains as encountered in routine work, not only as regards the serological characteristics of the organisms but also in regard to their morphology, their biochemical reactions, and their virulence for guinea-pigs.
在鉴别真正的白喉杆菌与白喉样菌方面，已经开展了大量工作。一些观察者认为，所有致病菌株都可以通过其糖反应与非致病类型区分开来。另一些人则非常强调某些特定形式的毒力测试。最近，人们尝试进行血清学分类，以帮助解决这个问题。关于糖反应，格雷厄姆 - 史密斯（1908年）发现，某些菌株在含有蔗糖的培养基中产生酸，而海因（1913年）则认为，没有真正的白喉杆菌能够发酵这种糖。伊格尔顿和巴克斯特（1922年）表明，有毒和无毒的白喉杆菌都能发酵葡萄糖，但对蔗糖没有任何变化。乔丹及其合作者（1922年）发现，有毒和无毒的杆菌都能发酵葡萄糖和麦芽糖，对蔗糖没有变化，并且它们对糊精的作用是可变的。对这些生物体的血清学分类研究也显示出一些相当大的差异。黑文斯（1920年）分离出206株白喉杆菌菌株。这些代表了来自急性病例、恢复期培养物和健康带菌者的培养物。他发现这206株菌株可分为两个血清学组，一组有169株，另一组有37株。没有任何交叉凝集的证据。杜兰德（1920年）分离出255株典型白喉杆菌菌株，在排除那些不能形成稳定悬液的菌株后，将它们分为五组，A、B、C、D和E组，分别含有16、8、25、61和40株。发现有87株不能被这五种血清凝集，但仍能从这些血清中吸收凝集素。他对这五组杆菌的最终数据分别为18、8、31、76和51株。杜兰德和盖兰（1921年）在另一篇论文中表明，小规模的局部暴发总是由同一类型的杆菌引起的。他们还发现，健康带菌者携带的杆菌类型与这些感染源引起的病例中发现的杆菌类型相同。贝尔（1922年）从病例和带菌者中随意收集了133株白喉杆菌菌株。他能够用三种单价血清凝集其中80%的菌株。第一组有17株，第二组有8株，第三组有80株。鉴于刚刚描述的结果，进一步研究常规工作中遇到的大量菌株显得很重要，不仅要研究这些生物体的血清学特征，还要研究它们的形态、生化反应以及对豚鼠的毒力。
