THE WHOLE BLOOD TEST FOR PULLORUM DISEASE 19 



and two with the tube test). Unfortunately the owner failed to send these birds 

 to the laboratory. 



The third test was conducted on January 7, 1935, when the entire flock (894 

 birds) was tested with the tube test only and no reactors were detected at this 

 time. No further testing was conducted in this flock. 



Table 10-Summary of tests-Flock C. 

 Date of Test Number of Birds Number of Reactors 



[ 19 tube test 



October 24 and 25, 1934 1053 40 -j 2W.B.T. 



[19 both tests 



November 28 732 3 tube test 



18 (reactors in 3 J2 tube test 



quarantine) \l both tests 



January 7, 1935 894 



Total 2697 46 



The results of the agglutination tests and necropsies of the 13 reacting birds 

 submitted to the laboratory are shown in Table 11. 



S. pullorum was isolated from 5 of the 13 reactors submitted to the laboratory. 

 Four birds (92817, 92842, 95928, and 95842) gave delayed weak reactions with the 

 whole blood test. Birds 92817 and 92842 did not react with the tube method on 

 initial test, while the sera of birds 95928 and 95842 gave a strong reaction in the 

 1:25 dilution. S. pullorum was isolated from the latter two birds. Bird 96027 

 gave a partial reaction with the tube method but failed to react with the whole 

 blood test, and on necropsy S. pullorum was recovered from the pericardium, 

 liver, spleen, peritoneum, ovary and abdominal cyst. The serum of bird 95824 

 gave complete agglutination on initial test with the tube method, but subsequent 

 tests were either negative or slightly suspicious. This bird did not react to the 

 whole blood test and 5 1 . pullorum was not isolated. The observations concerning 

 bird 95842 are of interest in that its titre gradually decreased below the 1:10 

 dilution and on necropsy 5. pullorum was recovered from pericardial exudate. 

 It is quite possible that complete recovery from infection might have followed 

 since the organism appeared to be confined to the pathological process of the 

 heart. Low-titre birds were either negative or gave inconsistent positive reactions 

 with the whole blood test. On the initial test of the flock the tube test detected 

 19 reactors which were negative to the whole blood method. On second test 15 

 of these reactors (three submitted to the laboratory and one died) were tested 

 and three continued to react. One also reacted to the whole blood test. 



Flock D. This flock had not revealed pullorum-disease reactors for a period 

 of 8 consecutive years. It was selected as a negative flock to determine the 

 accuracy of the whole blood test as compared with the tube test in ascertaining 

 the true status of the birds. The technique for the testing methods was the same 

 as that employed in the first test of Flock A. A total of 906 birds was tested. 

 Sixteen birds gave reactions that were slightly suspicious. Two of these reactions 

 were delayed. With the tube test the sera of three birds gave a slightly suspicious 

 reaction. None of the reacting birds were requested for necropsy since the degree 

 of reaction observed with either test and the history of the flock did not suggest 

 the presence of pullorum infection. 



