222 



VETERINARY BACTERIOLOGY 



key. Accidental laboratory infections have proved its power 

 of producing disease in man. Infection probably usually arises 

 through ingestion. The disease is characterized by its low mor- 

 tality, its long duration in man, and the accompanying articular 

 rheumatism. It is a disease primarily of the goat, though it is 

 possible that cattle may sometimes harbor and transmit it. 



Immunity. No toxins have been demonstrated. Agglutinins 

 are present in the blood in infected individuals, so that agglutina- 

 tion may sometimes be secured with high dilutions occasionally 

 as high as 1 : 6000. This test is one of the readiest methods of 

 diagnosing the disease. 



Bacteriologic Diagnosis. Diagnosis may be made by isolation 



of the organism by a punc- 

 ture of the spleen, or by 

 demonstrating the presence 

 of specific agglutinins in 

 the serum in dilutions of 

 1 : 50 or greater. 



Transmission and Pro- 

 phylaxis. The organism is 

 excreted in the feces, urine, 

 and milk from infected 

 animals. Most cases in 

 the human are acquired 

 by drinking the milk of in- 

 fected animals. The dis- 

 ease infects, in either the 

 acute or chronic form, so 



large a proportion of the animals in some countries that the use 

 of unheated milk is always attended with danger. The disease 

 has no foothold at present in the United States, but is occa- 

 sionally reported. 



Micrococcus caprinus 



Disease Produced. Takosis, or wasting disease, of Angora 

 goats. 



Mohler and Washburn, in 1903, described the organism be- 

 lieved to be the specific cause of this disease of Angora goats. 



Fig. 94. Micrococcus melitensis (X 1200) 

 (Jordan) . 



