K. F. MEYER 629 



their infected mothers is indicated. Frequent removal and disinfection of the feces 

 has, as Perard' states, great advantages since the oocysts can be destroyed much more 

 readily before they have sporulated. 



The occurrence of spontaneous paratyphoid-B infections in rabbits has been re- 

 ported by Uhlenhuth and Hubener, Litch and Meyer, ^ Smith and Nelson,^ von 

 Sarnowski,^ and probably others. The anatomical lesions have been strikingly uni- 

 form: necrotic follicles in the appendix and on the Peyer's patches; firm, or pulpy en- 

 gorged, congested spleen; necrotic foci in the liver; and occasionally areas of pneu- 

 monia. It is not unlikely that the pneumonia in the cases observed by Litch and 

 Meyer was due to a superimposed infection with Bad. lepisepticum, although the 

 paratyphoid bacilli were isolated from the consolidated areas in pure culture. The 

 strains studied by Litch and Meyer and by Smith and Nelson are aertrycke types of 

 the paratyphoid B group. Among three cultures submitted by Jordan^ to a compara- 

 tive analysis two were aertrycke types and one B. enteritidis. The latter was secured 

 from the gall bladder of a rabbit that died after a subcutaneous inoculation with a 

 bacillus of the hemorrhagic septicemia group. This observation, which indicates the 

 occurrence of latent infections or carriers of the paratyphoid-enteritidis group just 

 as noted for guinea pigs and mice, has recently been confirmed by Menten and 

 Manning.^ In the course of a study of hyperglycemia, these two workers found that 

 coincident with the glycemia 68 per cent of the rabbits harbored B. enteritidis in the 

 macro- and microscopically affected organs. In a subsequent paper Menten^ was 

 able to show that soluble toxic substances of the paratyphoid-enteritis organisms 

 produce alterations of the blood sugar and hydropic degeneration in the islets of 

 Langerhans which were identical with those seen in the natural infections. 



Concerning the epidemiology of paratyphoid infections in the rabbit very little is 

 known. Nelson and Smith suspect gray field mice as transmitting agencies. The 

 strains isolated by Litch and Meyer regularly infected by oral administration of large 

 doses (2,000,000,000 organisms) ; those of Menten and Manning gave irregular results 

 on ingestion. Furthermore, the history of the small epidemic observed by the writer 

 indicates a spread by contact, yet healthy rabbits placed in the cages with the experi- 

 mentally fed rabbits, which excreted paratyphoid bacilli, remained well. 



Epidemics in which the outstanding symptoms are swelling of the soft tissues of the 

 upper and lower jaw, intense salivation, occasionally involvement of the external gen- 

 italia, diarrhea, and rapid wasting have been reported by Beattie, Yates and Donald- 

 son,^ Sustmann,^ and Cameron and Williams." The morbid anatomy with its embolic 



•Perard, C: op. cit., 38, 953. 1924; 39, 505. 1925. 



^ Litch, v., and Meyer, K. F.: J. Infecl. Dis., 28, 27. 1921. 



^ Smith, T., and Nelson, J. B.: op. cit., 45, 373. 1927. 



■I von Sarnowski, W.: Vel. Inaiig. Dissertation. Hannover, 1919. 



s Jordan, E. O.: op. cit., 36,317. 1925. 



* Menten, M. L., and Manning, H. M.: J. Infect. Dis., 37, 400. 1925. 

 'Menten, M. L.: ibid., 38,354. 1926. 



* Beattie, Y. M., Yates, A. G., and Donaldson, R.: J. Path. & Bact., 18, 34. 1913-14. 

 •* Sustmann, H.: Deutsche tierarztl. Wchnschr., 27, g$. 1919. < ^\ 



'" Cameron, G. R., and Williams, F. E.: /. Path. & Bact., 29, 185. 1926. u^\Jz 



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