A maltose-fermenting variant of Clostridium hemolyticum.

It seems probable from the localized occurrence of bacillary hemoglobinuria in cattle that Clostridium hemolyticum is not widely distributed in the soil but is confined to rather restricted areas. The work of Safford and Smith (1954), who investigated the spread of this disease in Montana, indicated that this organism was not originally present but was introduced from another region. The carriage of virulent strains of C. hemolyticm.m by apparently normal cattle was demonstrated by Smith and Jasmin (1956). This is one means by which this organism could be carried from one area to another. The animals carrying C. hemolyticum in their livers also had agglutinins for C. hemolyticum in their sera. Consequently, it might be possible to detect such "icarrier" animals by means of serological tests. -Although no other clostridium is known to share antigens with C. hemolyticum (Records and Vawter, 1945), some cattle from regions in which bacillary hemoglobinuria is not present have been found to possess agglutinins for C. hemolyticum. This finding would suggest either that C. hemolyticum was present in these areas without causing disease, or that the cattle were suffering subelinical infections by some unknown but antigenically related organism. In this study, such antigenically related organisms were examined and were found to resemble C. hemolyticum culturally and toxigenically, as well as serologically. These strains were isolated from the livers of apparently normal cattle that were allowed to graze on a pasture known to be associated with the development of agglutinins for C. hemolyticum, although no evidence could be obtained that C. henwolyticum had ever been present there.