MORPHOLOGICAL EVIDENCE OF THE PRESENCE OF A BACILLUS IN SYNOVIAL-MEMBRANE CELL-CULTURES OF RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS PATIENTS

34 synovial membranes (SM) from 24 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and two from osteoarthrosis cases as controls, were studied by culturing the cells on elongated coverslips and Giemsa staining them. 33/34 RA-SM, a 97%, disclosed the presence of a rod-shaped bacterium and its cell wall-deficient forms (CWDB), all adhering to the cells. An external contamination as the organism origin, was ruled out. From one of the RA-SM, a Gram (-), non-fermentative bacillus was isolated, which up to now remains unidentified. This bacillus, when reinoculated onto human embryonic fibroblasts, reproduces the images shown in the rest of the RA-SM. The possibility of this bacillus being the etiological agent of RA is discussed.