INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF MICE 429 



further work. Chemotherapy with arsenical compounds has no apparent 

 effect (34). 



The mouse grahamellae, termed CrahameUa musculi by Benoit-Bazille 

 (21), somewhat resemble bacillary bodies in their morphology (45, 21, 34, 

 120, 122). They appear as rather coarse, irregular rods which may be club- 

 shaped or beaded (Fig. 166). Variation in length (0.5 to 2 /x) is greater than 

 that in width (0.2 to 0.3 fx). They are stained a more intense blue by 

 Giemsa's method and are more azurophilic than the bartonellae and epery- 

 throzoa. Other aniline dyes also stain 

 them well. No adequate attempts to 

 culture the organisms have as yet been 

 reported. 



Miscellaneous Bacterial Infections 



Mice are highly susceptible to a 

 considerable number of pathogenic 

 bacteria which but rarely, if at all, 

 cause spontaneous illness in these 

 animals. Thus the anaerobic spore- 

 forming bacilli {Clostridia) produce 

 rapidly fatal diseases following adminis- Fig. 166. — GrahamcUa musculi. 



tration of toxin or cultures. The Spontaneous infection in a laboratory 

 organisms are commonly found in the "^°^^^*^- Giemsa. (Xqoo.) {Cour- 

 r r ■ , , , 1 • r i- tcsv of Dr. D. Weinman.) 



feces of animals, yet natural infection ' - 



has not been reported. Spontaneous tuberculosis caused by the avian 

 tubercle bacillus has been found in mice (no, p. 633), infection apparently 

 being acquired through the ingestion of avian feces. The enterococci and 

 proteus organisms other than Proteus morgani (see p. 388) may infrequently 

 produce disease in mice (94). Of more interest and importance, however, 

 are two epidemics of tularemia in mice (200, 117). One occurred in Contra 

 Costa County, California, among meadow mice (Microtus calijornicus 

 aestuarinus) ; the other in the Kotelnikovo region of the Stalingrad district, 

 Russia, among common mice (Mus musculus). In both instances the death 

 rate was high and Pasteurella tularemia was isolated from afflicted animals. 

 The disease was readily reproduced in mice experimentally (see also 78). 



Fungus Diseases 



Infection of the skin with fungi, commonly called "favus" or "ring- 

 worm," is not uncommon in mice (no, p. 627; 299, 170, 249), and may even 



