68 CONTROL SERIES No. 63 



Furthermore, the interpretation of the reactions is no less difficult than in 

 the tube method. As has been shown in these data, various types of reactions 

 may occur so that a knowledge of the field of serology and other related fields is 

 required. Therefore, a test of this nature should not be advocated as a simplified 

 test which can be employed by persons who are not qualified to conduct such a 

 test. Such action can lead only to retardation in eradication of the disease. 



In recognizing the desirable features of the whole blood test, one must not 

 lose sight of the fact that the real value of this method cannot be ascertained 

 until it has been employed in an eradication program. If this method is found 

 to be equally or more efficient than the tube method in detecting infected birds, 

 then its adoption should be considered. At the present time, however, it appears 

 that the whole blood method should not be considered as reUable as the tube 

 method but that investigations concerning the former should be encouraged. 



Conclusions 



1. Comparative tests employing the whole blood and tube agglutination 

 methods revealed a greater efficiency in favor of the latter method. 



2. 5. piillorum was isolated from birds that had not reacted at any time to 

 the whole blood test. In all but one of these cases, the birds possessed low titers. 



3. Failure to detect infected birds with the whole blood method occurred 

 most frequently with birds possessing low titers. 



4. 6". puUoruni was isolated from three birds that were negative to both 

 methods at the time of necropsy. 



5. While the whole blood method has a diagnostic value, it does not appear 

 as sensitive in detecting infected birds as the tube method. 



INTENSIVE TESTING VERSUS ANNUAL TESTING IN PULLORUM 

 DISEASE ERADICATION 



In eradicating pullorum disease from a flock of poultry, it is very important 

 to select a testing program which will eliminate all infected birds in the shortest 

 possible time. While very little literature is available comparing intensive and 

 annual testing, investigators are generally agreed that a method of procedure 

 involving some form of intensive testing is necessary to detect all infected birds 

 in order to expedite eradication of the disease. 



Newsom, Cross, and Ufford (67) by repeated tests on the same birds found 

 that not all reacting hens are consistent reactors. Because of the inconsistency, 

 they suggested the application of the tube agglutination test at frequent intervals, 

 in order to detect all of the carrier birds. Kernkamp (54) also found that some 

 reacting birds were of the intermittent type as shown by repeated tests. Because 

 of this type of reactors, he regarded repeated testing as necessary to detect all 

 reacting birds. Edwards and Hull (32), in 984 tests on 93 positive reacting birds 

 tested over a period of one year, noted only 6 negative tests which were confined to 

 4 hens. They concluded that this type of reactor is not as common as reported 

 by some investigators. Reports from the Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment 

 Station (48, 92) advise retesting of infected flocks within the same season until 

 negative. Dearstyne (24) reported a considerable percentage of intermittent 

 reactors. Of 327 flocks in a program of intensive testing, 26 showed infection 

 at the end of the sixth test, when the testing was discontinued. Dearstyne, 

 Greaves, and Gauger (25) found a percentage of 26.8 intermittent reactors among 

 5,053 reactors under field conditions. Because it was impossible to detect all 

 infected birds on one test, they advised the short interval testing plan. Bottorff 

 (9) reporting the results of testing on six farms, found that from two to eight 



