The Occurrence and Bacteriological Characteristics of S. marcescens from a Case of Meningitis

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Abstract
Three days following a routine lumbar puncture for diagnostic purposes, a 21-yr.-old patient suffering from syphilis developed acute meningitis. The spinal fluid contained 2100 cells per mm.3, 92% of which were polymorphonuclear cells. From this sample of spinal fluid as well as from a sample of spinal fluid collected 24 hrs. later there was isolated an organism which presented the cultural morphological, biochemical and tinctorial characteristics of Serratia marcescens (Bacillus prodigiosus). The culture was pathogenic for white mice, white rats, hamsters, turtles and rabbits, but not for guinea pigs. Cultures prepd. from the blood and peritoneal cavity of mice infected with this organism showed variations in their colonial characteristics as evidenced by the appearance of nonchromogenic colonies and by variations in the morphology of the colonies. Spectrophotometric studies of pigment produced by this culture showed that the fraction soluble in acetone, petroleum ether, amyl alcohol, xylene, N/10 HC1, water, benzene, chloroform, CCI4, and CS2 absorbed wavelengths in the 532-550 m range; the fraction soluble in ether, absolute ethyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, and N/10 NaOH, absorbed wavelengths of 460-536 m[mu].

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