CHAPTER I V
Corynebacterium d@htheriae:
Microbiological Methods Used in Clinical
and Epidemiological Investigations
ALICE SARAGEA, PAULA MAXIMESCU AND EUGENIA MEITERT
The Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest, Romania
I. General Considerations .
. 62
11. Microbiological Characters of Corynebacterium diphtheriae . . 63
A. Definition of the genus Corynebacterium .
. 63
B. Characteristics of C. diphtheriae
.
. 65
111. Diphtherial Toxin .
. 76
A. Phage-bacteria relationships in C. diphtheriae .
. 76
C. Schick test .
. 82
IV. Antigenic Structure of C. diphtheriae . .
. 84
A. General
.
. 84
B. Serological typing .
. 84
C. Investigations on bacterial antigens .
. 86
V. Phage Typing of C. diphtheriae.
.
. 87
A. General
.
. 87
B. History of research on phage typing.
.
. 88
C. Original phage typing scheme for C. diphtheriae .
. 92
VI. Bacteriocins of Corynebacteria .
. 103
A. General
.
. 103
B. C. diphtheriae bacteriocin typing
.
. 106
VII. 'Epidemiology of Diphtheria
.
. 116
A. Corynebacterium ulcerans .
.
. 117
B. Corynebacterium hofmnnnii
.
. 123
C. Corynebacterium xerosis .
. 127
D. Atypical corynebacteria .
. 128
E. Corynebacterium variants with dwarf colonies .
. 131
B. Physiology of diphtherial toxin
.
. 79
D. Additional phage typing scheme for C. diphtheriae . . 99
VIII. Other Corynebacteria with Human Habitat
.
. 117
IX. Practical Procedures for the Isolation and Identification of C.
diphtheriae
. 135
A. Principles .
. 135
B. Methods
.
. 138