Microbial chromophore materials in circulating blood identified by laser micro Raman spectroscopy.

The microscopic observation of blood under various pathological circumstances (infectious diseases, cancer, leukemia) shows the presence of blue particles of micrometer size. Microbial cultivation of such blood samples allows the isolation of bacterial able to produce such chromophore particles in vitro, when cultivated on medium containing prewarmed blood (Chocolate Blood Medium) and to provoke the appearance of that material in normal blood, initially free from it. The vibrational spectra of these micrometer size coloured particles have been recorded by a micro-Raman Spectrometer and the identical nature of the blue particles from the two different sources has been well established. These findings suggest that the blue particles in pathological blood are originated by bacteria. The circumstances of the discovery of the microbial chromophore materials in blood, particularly but non exclusively in cases of cancer or leukemia can be discussed in comparison with the other pathogenic mechanisms.