THE Mima-Herellea group of bacteria were not recognized as a distinct entity and remained undescribed until the studies of DeBord, 1942.1 The tribe Mimeae are gram-negative, nonmobile, encapsulated aerobic bacilli which appear coccoid on gram-stain preparations from solid media. Coccoid and bacillary forms are present from liquid culture media. The organisms were assigned the names Mima polymorpha and Herellea vaginicola.
Because of their uncertain taxonomic position and their absence from the seventh edition of Bergey's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology, similar organisms with different names appeared in the literature. Mima-Herellea have been variously called "B5W,"2Bacterium anitratum,3Moraxella glucidolytica,4Achromobacter lwoffi,5 and Acinetobacter anitratum.6
The Mimeae group of bacteria have been indicated as the cause of septicemia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, synovitis, wound infection, postburn sepsis, and skin lesions.7,8 Despite extensive search of the literature, there were no available reports indicating their association with