CRITERIA FOR THE IDENTIFICATION OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS

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Abstract
Virulent and avirulent B. anthracis can be identified and differentiated from B. cereus and other aerobic sporeformers by a positive "string-of-pearls" reaction and a positive reaction with gamma bacteriophage. Characteristic colonial morphology and the absence of motility and hemolysis help to support the identification. Mouse virulence tests are of value for identification only when properly quantitated. When avirulent variants are derived from virulent strains of B. anthracis, the avirulent variants retain the characteristics of the parent strains which are essential for identification.