CHAPTER IX. 



Choi.i-ka. 



F(t\vl cholera is a virulent. u>ually fatal and highly infec- 

 tious disease. It is entirely distinct from the ordinary forms 

 of enteritis with which it is often confused l)y poultrymen. 

 Fowl typhoid and infectious leukaemia are also often mistaken 

 for cholera. (Genuine fowl cholera is rather rare in this cotm- 

 trv hut is much more ctimmon in Europe. This disease was 

 first reported in this country ahout 1880 hy Salmon ( Rept. U. 

 S. Comm. of Agric. ). Owing- to the lack of proper bacteriologi- 

 cal methods at that time Salmon was not able with certainty to 

 identify this disease with the Enropean cholera. From certain 

 experimental work he concluded that some of the symptoms 

 exhibited h\- the disease in this country were different from 

 those described by European writers. About 1894 Moore (U. 

 S. Bur. An. Ind., Bui. 8) obtained material from several out- 

 l)reaks of supposed cholera but found this disease to dift'er in 

 several important respects from the European trouble. ]\lore 

 recently Curtice (R. I. Expt. Stat. Bui. 87) has described a 

 disea.se similar to that of Moore's under the name of fowl 

 typhoid. Wliat a])pears to be the genuine European fowl 

 cholera has-l)een reported several times within the last few- 

 years. 



Fowl cholera attacks all varieties of i)oultry ; also caged 

 birds and many .species of wild birds. "The infection generally 

 occurs bv taking food or drink contaminated with the excre- 

 ment of sick l)ir(ls. It is also possible for birds to be infected 

 through wotmds of the skin or l)y inhalation of the germs in 

 the form of dust suspendeil in the air. They often take the 

 germs into tlieir bodies by consuming particles of tiesh or blood 

 from the carcasses of affected birds that have died or have 

 been killed." 



"The disease is generall\- introduced upon a farm or in a 

 locality, with new birds, purchased for improving the flocks or 



