- Volume 3, Issue 2, 1970

The bacterial flora of axillary hairs from persons with and without trichomycosis axillaris has been examined. Affected hairs bore a larger number of diphtheroid species than control hairs and a higher proportion of isolates from trichomycosis were found to belong to Evans’ group D.

Biochemical tests were made on several strains representing each of the twelve known serotypes of Pasteurella haemolytica. The use of the fermentation reactions with arabinose and trehalose to distinguish the A and T biotypes was found to be more reliable for T than for A strains, since some strains of biotype A in all serotypes, except serotype 11, failed to ferment arabinose within 14 days. Mannose and salicin were fermented by strains of biotype T, but by only 1 (mannose) or 2 (salicin) out of 30 strains in biotype A. Lactose and xylose were fermented by A strains only. All strains reduced nitrate and gave negative reactions in the methyl-red and Voges-Proskauer tests.

Otherwise typical strains of Neisseria gonovrhoeae showed growth on an unenriched nutrient agar, prepared from commonly available ingredients, when subcultured soon after isolation. Growth on nutrient agar is therefore not a valid reason for considering that a neisseria belongs to one of the non-pathogenic species.