Document Type
Article
Original Publication Date
1979
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The New England Journal of Medicine
Volume
301
Issue
17
First Page
897
Last Page
900
DOI of Original Publication
10.1056/NEJM197910253011701
Date of Submission
January 2015
Abstract
Abstract
A 49-year-old splenectomized man had an infection from an unidentified, gram-positive, rodshaped bacterium that adhered to the majority of his peripheral-blood erythrocytes. On transmission electron microscopy, the bacterium was seen to be extraerythrocytic and was 0.2 μm wide by 1.0 to 1.7 μm long. It possessed a thick, granular cell wall, a trilamellar membrane external to the cell wall and prominent mesosomes. Attempts to cultivate the organism in vitro or to duplicate the patient's disease in splenectomized animals were unsuccessful. The patient's response suggested that the bacterium was susceptible to cell-wall-active antibiotics and to chloramphenicol but not to tetracycline. This bacterium may be the cause of other chronic, fever-producing, multisystem diseases of unknown origin. (N Engl J Med 301:897–900, 1979)
Rights
From The New England Journal of Medicine, Archer, G.L., Coleman, P.H., Cole, R.M., et al., Human Infection from an Unidentified Erythrocyte-Associated Bacterium, Vol. 301, Page 897, Copyright © 1979 Massachusetts Medical Society. Reprinted with permission.
Is Part Of
VCU Internal Medicine Publications
Comments
Originally published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197910253011701