Corynebacterium ulcerans and C. ovis. In addition to diphtheria toxin, lysogenic C. ulcerans and C. ovis strains each produce their own specific toxin; they also maintain their specific morphology and urease production whilst C. diphtheriae strains lysogenized by C. ulcerans phagesproduce only diphtheria toxin. The majority of C. ulcerans phages are unable to induce the production of diphtheria toxin in strains of C. ulcerans.Phage typing with Corynebacterium ulcerans phages is a practical possibility. Thirteen well-defined phage types were established by this technique in 172 C. ulcerans and 62 C. ovis strains with only one of the phage types (111 C) occurring in both species. C. ulcerans can be distinguished from C. ovis by the pathogenicity test in mice. C. ovis kills mice by any route of inoculation whilst C. ulcerans strains cause only arthritis. C. ulcerans wild strains could be identified in this way and C. ulcerans and C. ovis strains from different type culture collections could be distinguished from each other by these well-defined characteristics.
SUMMARYInvestigation of the lysogenicity of seven Corynebacterium diphtheriae PW 8 variants revealed the spontaneous liberation, by these strains, of phage particles active against two C. ulcerans strains (9304 and 298 G ) which are sensitive to C. diphtheriae gravis and mitis phages. By this means, phage particles with different host-range activity and morphology of plaques were obtained from the PW 8 strains. Further studies showed that some C. diphtheriae strains which possess the same sensitivity towards gravis and mitis phages showed the same spontaneous liberation of PW 8-carried phages. The newly obtained phages were able to convert to toxinogenesis both C. ulcerans and C. diphtheriae strains.
An investigation of 272 non-human primates (75 Macacca cynomolgus, 97 Macacca mulatta and 100 Cercopithecus aethiops) revealed a high incidence of respiratory disease caused by Corynebacterium ulcerans, Staphylococci, Diplococci and Streptococci. Escherichia coli was also found as a secondary invader. Most of the infections occurred during winter in Macaca cynomolgus and were caused by Corynebacterium ulcerans and Diplococcus pneumoniae. The C. ulcerans strains were phage type VI G. A phage type III C strain was isolated from a Macacca mulatta. The high incidence of C. ulcerans suggests that this organism plays a significant role in the pathology of respiratory disease in the non-human primate.
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