268 An Introduction to Medical Mycology 



of a fungus which causes a deep or systemic infection in human beings, a 

 comparable infection is looked for in the experimental animal. If it dies 

 spontaneously, postmortem examination will reveal the extent of the infec- 

 tion and something of its character. If the animal is still living six or eight 

 weeks after the inoculation, it may be killed. According to Weidman, mice 

 and rats are the animals of choice for testing pathogenicity of fungi. Prac- 

 tical advantages in using mice when possible (such as with C. immitis) are 

 the facility of sterilization of the glass jar housing the mice, the ready col- 

 lection of excreta and the rapid course of the infection. 



When difficulty is encountered in establishing a laboratory infection, 

 resistance of the skin may sometimes be lowered by repeated inoculation 

 of infective material into the same site. 



For the care of laboratory animals and further details of technic, the 

 reader is referred to the text of Kolmer and Boerner, mentioned in the 

 list of reference books, page 357. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



DeLamater, E. D., and Benham, R. W.: Experimental studies with the dermatophytes: I. 

 Primary disease in laboratory animals, J. Invest. Dermat. 1:451, 1938. 



