both. No toxin could be shovm in cultures of the organism. ^JVhile the 

 possibilitjjr of toxLn production in the body of the host could not be 

 excluded, the F^arunculos is Cominittee (1935) felt that the pathogenic 

 action of E. salmonicida was largely due to its abundant grov/th in bleed 

 and tissues thus interfering with the blood supply resulting in necrosis 

 and liquefaction of tissues. The organism of furunculosis also exhibits- 

 a marked proteolytic action. 



Field and associates (194A) have shown that there is a rapid 

 decline in blood sugar in an acute irifecticn mth B. salmonicida . Thay 

 found that there y/as a drop from the normal of approximately 100 mgo 

 percent to the abnormally lov^ level of 5.8 to 12.3 mg. percent. Their 

 findings suggest that when the inoculum is large the rapidly multiplying 

 organism utilizes blood sugar as a convenient source of energy, inducing 

 a hypoglycemic shock which may be fatal within 3 to 5 days. In a mere 

 chronic infection, the non-protein nitrogen content increased to phencraen' 

 amounts, values of 600 to 700 mg. percent being not uncommon, while 

 analysis of control samples gave results of approximately 30 mg. percent-. 

 For the most part they found that the increased nitrogen consisted of 

 amino acid nitrogen, values of 4-00 to 500 mg. percent being recorded for 

 some fish. They also discovered variable increased quantities of urea, 

 T*iich in some cases accounted for a substantial fraction of the rise in 

 nitrogen samples. However, Field and associates (1944) stressed that 

 increase in urea values may onl;^^ reflect a progressive uremia concurrent 

 with or as a result of kidney degeneration. On the other hand, the rise 

 in amino acids as well as creatine is probably a result of intensive 

 degeneration of muscle tissue. It is conceivable that creatine can be 

 utilized by the bacteria as a readj^ source of energy (Dubos and Miller 

 1937). 



Hemoglobin, red blood cell count, total plasma protein, albumin 

 and globulin in inoculated fish were found by Field and associates 

 (1944) to be essentially the same as the control animals. An unusuaJ. 

 amount of oil globules was always observed on the surface of accumulated 

 visceral fluid of autopsied an.im.als. Likewise, oil globules, never 

 observed in control animals, were present in blood talcen from all disease,: 

 fish. 



Agglutinins are foi-med in the sera of fish (carp and several 

 species of trout) and turtles (painted and snapping turtles) infected rdt^ 

 Bo salmonicida (Smith 1940, Gee and Smith 1941, Duff 1942). The highest 

 titer recorded is 1:2,560, observed from the sera of a turtle (Gee and 

 Smith 1941). The highest titer recordpd for trout is 1:640 (one 

 rainbow and one brovm trcut held at 10° C. (50° F.)) (Smith 1940 )c 

 Gushing (1942) found that the antibody- titer of fish kept in a wai'm 

 tank rosG sooner than those kept in a cold one, indicating, that for fish 

 at least, temperature influences the rate of antibody production. 



35 



