Studies on Granuloma Inguinale Iv. Growth Requirements of Donovania Granulomatis and Its Relationship to the Natural Habitat of The

While the postulates of Koch have never been fulfilled in granuloma inguinale, there is much presumptive evidence to indicate that Donovania granulomatis is the aetiological agent of the disease. The prototype of D. granulomatis was isolated originally by Anderson (1943), and since that time at least six other investigators (Beveridge, 1945; Dienst, 1948; Goldberg, Weaver, and Packer, 1953; Jennison, Helwig, and Milstone, 1947; Sheldon, Thebaut, Heyman, and Wall, 1945; Thomison, 1951) have isolated additional strains. The organism isolated in each of these cases was a Gram-negative pleomorphic rod which grew only in the presence of egg yolk material. Morphologically these organisms showed bipolar staining with Wright's stain and, when capsulated, closely resembled the Donovan bodies which are pathognomonic for the disease. In addition to the morphological similarity between Donovania and the Donovan body, serological data indicate that patients with granuloma inguinale have antibodies directed against the Donovania. Anderson, DeMonbreun, and Goodpasture (1945) were able to show that an antigen prepared from one of their strains of Donovania reacted with sera from patients with the disease. Goldberg, Weaver, Packer, and Simpson (1953) have shown by complement-fixation tests that 136 out of 151 sera from patients with granuloma inguinale gave positive reactions with antigens prepared from strains of Donovania. Only one of 112 of their control sera gave a positive reaction. The data also indicated that the titres of the sera increased with the duration of the disease. If we assume that D. granulomatis is the aetiological agent of granuloma inguinale, two pertinent questions must be answered: (1) What is the normal habitat of the organism? (2) How is it transmitted from patient to patient?