PATHOGENIC PLEUROPNEUMONIA-LIKE MICROORGANISMS FROM ACUTE RHEUMATIC EXUDATES AND TISSUES.

In suitable cell-free media it has been possible to cultivate pleuropneumonia-like microorganisms from the following materials, first, from chorioallantoic membranes in which lesions were apparently induced by exudates from patients with rheumatic fever; second, from pneumonic lungs of mice inoculated with similar exudates or with suspensions of the abovementioned abnormal membranes; and third, directly from the arthritic exudate of a patient with rheumatic fever, and also from an erythema nodosum nodule excised from a patient with this same disease. With three different subcultures from joint fluid, iritis has been induced in rabbits; and following intranasal inoculation with the same cultures there has developed in mice a pneumonia similar to that found in mice inoculated with rheumatic exudates and with suspensions of chorioallantoic membranes infected with rheumatic exudates. Therefore it seems probable that in all instances the pathogenic agent was derived from similar sources, viz., patients with rheumatic fever. Further work will be required to demonstrate the etiologic significance of these pathogenic agents in rheumatic fever.