PNEUMONOMYCOSIS 417 



some of the features of actinomycosis. In the granulation tissue 

 yellow bodies with root-like projections are found, called leeches 

 by the natives. These bodies consist of the mycelium of the fungus. 

 Dawson saw the disease in horses only, not in cattle. Fish examined 

 tissues containing the fungus and described the latter; he did not, 

 however, obtain it in pure cultures. The mould is seen in the tissues 

 in the form of filaments which sometimes have club-shaped ends and 

 some of which show septa. The mycelium is branched and small, 

 round bodies; evidently spores are found in it. The mycelium is 

 often embedded in a calcified matrix which is formed in consequence 

 of the inflammatory reaction of the tissue. 



PNEUMONOMYCOSIS. 



Infection of the lungs of man and animals by hyphomycetes or 

 moulds is comparatively rare, but a sufficient number of cases have 

 been reported to show that such infections do undoubtedly occur. 

 In animals they are generally observed among those kept in warm, 

 moist, poorly ventilated places and fed on mouldy feed. Such mould 

 infections of the lungs are most frequently seen in domestic birds; 

 pigeons appear to be most susceptible, but chickens, ducks, and geese, 

 as well as parrots and birds in zoological gardens, may also be infected. 

 The disease is less frequently found in mammals. Schiitz, Rivolta, 

 Martin, Bellinger, Lucet, and Peck have reported cases in horses. 

 Roeckl, Piana, Bournay, Ravenel, and Hartenstein in cattle; others 

 in sheep, deer, and dogs. 



The pathologic changes produced by the inhaled and multiplying 

 moulds consist in the production of dirty yellow, greenish, mouldy 

 looking patches, which lead to ulceration, with plugging up of the 

 lumen of bronchioles and the formation of catarrhal foci in the 

 pulmonary parenchyma. These may be purulent, caseous, or mortar- 

 like in character; sometimes they are surrounded by a fibrous capsule 

 or infiltrate the neighboring tissue in a diffuse manner. The moulds 

 causing these changes are found in the patches and in the interior 

 of the pathologic foci. Microscopic examination is always necessary, 

 as some of the mycotic lesions closely resemble tubercular changes 

 and in horses they have resembled glanders. 



The moulds which have been found in cases of pneumonomycosis 

 are the following: Aspergillus fumigatus and Aspergillus nigrescens 

 form a colorless mycelium from which straight, unbranched fruit bearers 

 arise. On their upper ends the fruit bearers carry a columella and 

 a sporangium which produces numerous spores (conidia) arranged in 

 radial rows. On bread, Aspergillus fumigatus forms a bluish-green 

 and later ashy-gray mould; Aspergillus nigrescens forms a blackish- 

 or chocolate-brown growth. Aspergillus fumigatus is the mould most 

 commonly found in mycosis in birds. Birds can easily be infected 

 27 



