The detection of tubercle bacilli in the sputum is regarded by many as of unfavorable prognostic significance, regardless of the number detected and the frequency with which they are found. This study is an attempt to evaluate the prognostic significance of small numbers of tubercle bacilli detected in the sputum by concentration methods. Sputum with modified Gaffky counts of i, ii, or iii were...

Several investigators (Gratia and Jaiman, 1921; Colvin, 1932) have noted the failure of lysis of susceptible bacteria by bacteriophage in various body fluids. In studies with mycobacteriophages (White and Knight, 1959) it was shown that a factor precipitated by ammonium sulfate in the y-globulin fraction of human serum prevented propagation by mycobacteriophage D-29 on human tubercle bacilli. I...

Observations are presented on the behavior of populations of tubercle bacilli in the tissues of mice during the administration of antimicrobial drugs. The behavior of the populations during therapy with any particular drug was different depending upon whether the tubercle bacilli were subsisting in the lung or in the spleen. Moreover, the pattern of microbial behavior was distinctive and predic...