A DESCRIPTION OF HAEMOPHILUS VAGINALIS AND ITS L FORMS

Abstract

A new species of Haemophilus, Haemophilus vaginalis, has recently been incriminated as the cause of human non-specific vaginitis and urethritis. A very similar if not identical organism obtained from the same sources is the subject of this report. The name H. vaginalis is accepted for it. A systematic description of this organism is given, including microscopic and colonial appearances, nutritional requirements, biochemical properties, and pathogenicity to experimental animals. Immunological studies are not yet complete. Transformation of H. vaginalis into the L form of colony is described and illustrated in a series of photomicrographs. It is suggested that the pleuropneumonia-like organisms frequently encountered in genitourinary infections are, in fact, L forms of H. vaginalis. Attention must in future be concentrated on the normal bacterial phase and not on the L phase which is probably not pathogenic.