226 BACILLI OF THE HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA GROUP 



Resistance. The organisms are destroyed in fluids at 58 C. in 

 seven or eight minutes; by corrosive sublimate solution 1 to 5000 in 

 one minute. 



Natural Infection. The common mode in cattle seems to be through 

 the intestinal tract. It appears that the Bacillus bovisepticus is wide- 

 spread as a saprophyte in nature, and that it may lose most of its 

 virulency, but also regain it under conditions which are not yet well 

 known. 



Other Septicemias among Bovines. Corn-fodder Disease. It was 

 formerly believed that the so-called corn-fodder or corn-stalk disease, 

 which sometimes occurs extensively among cattle along the upper and 

 middle Mississippi Valley, was due to the Bacillus bovisepticus, but 

 according to Moore's investigations this certainly does not appear to 

 be the case. 



Septic Pleuropneumonia of Calves. This disease probably differs 

 only clinically from the typical hemorrhagic septicemia of cattle, and 

 is due to the Bacillus bovisepticus, though it has been claimed that 

 it is caused by a somewhat different variety. 



Hemorrhagic Septicemia of Sheep. This disease has been observed 

 in Europe and Argentina. It presents the typical pathologic changes 

 seen in the other hemorrhagic septicemias due to the bacilli of this 

 group. It is caused by the variety known as Bacillus (bipolaris) 

 ovisepticus. 



BACILLUS SUISEPTICUS. 



Hemorrhagic septicemia of swine, caused by the Bacillus suisep- 

 ticus, is commonly known as swine plague. There was considerable 

 confusion in the past as to the exact etiology and pathology of this 

 disease, because it is frequently associated with another disease of 

 swine known as hog cholera, and, further, because both diseases may 

 occur as a mixed infection in a single animal. 



The nomenclature is another unfortunate and confusing feature. 

 The English word "swine plague" literally translated into German is 

 "Schweinepest," just as the English term bubonic plague is "Beulen- 

 pest." The German word "Schweinepest," however, is the name for 

 the disease called hog cholera in English and not for swine plague. 

 This explains why so much confusion has arisen in the discussion of 

 these two diseases of swine. Swine plague is due to a bacillus of the 

 hemorrhagic septicemia group, while hog cholera, formerly believed 

 to be due to a bacillus of the typhoid colon group (the hog cholera 

 bacillus), is most probably due to an invisible, filterable virus., 



Historical and Occurrence. Loeffler, in 1886, discovered that the 

 septicemic form of swine plague was due to a specific organism which 

 was later classified with the other bacilli of the bipolar group. Schiitz, 

 in the same year, demonstrated the presence of the identical bacillus 

 in the pectoral form of the affection. The later contributions by 



