BIRD POX VACCINES AND BACTERINS 207 



Lowenthal, Kadowaki, and Kondo (12) were able to transmit vaccinia to 

 the fowl through five successive generations, but the affections became less 

 and less pronounced and finally died out. Fowls recovering from vaccinia 

 were immune to vaccinia, and those recovering from bird pox were immune to 

 bird pox. They were unable to produce a neutral or combination immunity 

 and concluded that the causes of vaccinia and bird pox were very different. 



ExPERIMEIvTAL DaTA ON THE EtIOLOGY OF AviAN DIPHTHERIA 



Roup, axd Bird Pox. 



Bacteriological examinations of diphtheritic patches were made and many 

 organisms were isolated, the majority of which were contaminating invaders. 

 In order to avoid this the patches were aseptically removed and the bacteri- 

 ological examination made directly from the underlying, denuded surface. The 

 same technic was employed in the pox form of the disease; that is, bacterio- 

 logical cultures were made from the pitted areas after removal of the pox 

 scabs. 



Pseudomonas aeruginosa {Bacilhis pyocyaneus) was found associated with 

 pox and diphtheritic lesions. This organism has been previously observed in 

 diphtheritic roup by Harrison and Streit (2), Hausser (3), Jackley (13), 

 Kaupp (14), and others. Various other pyogenic bacteria were isolated, 

 namely. Staphylococcus mireus, Gaffkya (Staphylococcus) tetragena, and 

 Staphylococcus albus. A Pasteurella avicida-like organism was isolated from 

 infected birds suffering with avian diphtheria, also one similar to the roup 

 bacillus or Bacillus cacosmus of Harrison and Streit (2). 



These organisms are at least prominent secondary invaders, but their ability 

 to cause diphtheritic roup is in doubt. Psewlomonas aeruginosa, when found 

 in an infected flock, was readily isolated from the heart blood, liver, and spleen 

 of those birds dead of the disease. The organism was injected into the wing 

 veins of several healthy birds and death ensued in from fifty-six to eighty- 

 four hours. The germ was recovered from the dead fowls, especially from 

 exudates in the nasal passages, indicating that the organism was associated 

 with roup. Other experiments with the organism, such as injection beneath 

 the skin and application to scarified wounds of the comb, wattles, and mem- 

 branes of the mouth, failed to produce any type of the disease. 



Fresh pox scabs obtained from a Massachusetts infected flock were dried, 

 passed through a coffee mill, and finally pulverized in a ball mill. One gram 

 of this powdered virus was macerated for twelve hours and afterwards tritur- 

 ated in 100 ce. of physiological salt solution. It was then passed through a 

 controlled Berkefeld filter of medium porosity. The filtrate was vigorously 

 rubbed into the scarified comb and wattles of healthy birds and failed to 

 reproduce the disease in forty-three days. These birds were susceptible to 

 avian diphtheria and bird pox for they later succumbed to inoculation with the 

 unfiltered virus. The experiment was repeated, using scab virus from two 

 other States, and again using a filter of medium porosity. The results were 

 the same. The experiments were controlled by the respective unfiltered scab 

 viruses which produced tj-pical pox lesions in the usual incubation period. 



It is known that the filtrable virus of smallpox will not pass through a 

 filter of fine porosity, but will pass through one of coarser porosity. Accord- 

 ingly, Berkefeld filters No. V (coarse) were next used and the results recorded 

 in the following table. The filtrate proved "sterile" upon cultural examination. 



