This site is intended for healthcare professionals

account_circleSign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Organism properties

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Corynebacterium diphtheriae exhibits the following characteristics:

  • morphology: 'Chinese character' bacilli which bear metachromatic granules
  • cultural characteristics: grey colonies on tellurite agar
  • biochemical properties: sucrose negative, urease negative

Further, based on the morphology of the colonies and the presence of metachromatic granules, C. diphtheriae is divided into the following species in order of increasing virulence:

  • mitis
  • intermedius
  • gravis

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page