INFECTIOUS TRACHITIS 



By Charles S. Gibbs 

 Assistant Research Professor of Veterinary Science 



Tlie disease discussed in tliis bulletin has been iiiven several names by 

 difl'erent investigators. The syuiptonis, patliology, and virulence a])i)ear 

 t) vary in the different localities frmn wliich it has been reported. Ilin- 

 sliaw (l!)'2o), after studyinsf the disease at feeding stations in the Middle 

 AVest, decided to name it infectious bronchitis. May and Tittsler (1925), 

 wliile studying an outbreak in pullets and cockerels, influenced more or 

 les< by extreme cold in the open, called the disease tracheolaryngitis. 

 These names ini\' have been ajjprojiriate for the particular strains of 

 iiifcctious trachitis studied, but neither name a])plies to the thirteen 

 strains included in this investigation. 



'I'en strains used in these experiments came from widely separated towns 

 in .Massachusetts, two from California, and two from Xew Jersey. 

 Bronchitis was not produced by any of these strains. Laryngitis was less 

 freipient than hejiatitis, s])lenitis, and nejihritis. The infection apjiarentiy 

 began in the trachea, and the chief lesion was present in and confined 

 to this tract. While a }vseudomend)rane was (pate often found in the 

 l.tryux, this lesion was not much more common that iiatciies of di])htherit- 

 ic membrane in the nas()-])bar\ nx, esophagus, and commissures of the 

 beak. Laryngitis was a secondary lesion following a ]>rimar>' focal in- 

 ftcti(m in the trachea, and fell into the same category as hepatitis, spleni- 

 tis, nephritis, and the formation of iiseudoniend)rane and cheesy exudate in 

 the infraorbital and paranasal sinuses. Because some birds died of suffo- 

 cation, due to an excessive formation of jiseudomembrane in the larynx 

 £ind trachea, the name laryngotrachitis might iiave been ap])ro])riate in 

 such cases. In general a shorter name is jireferable. The name infectious 

 trachitis is suggested because it is easily jjronounced, includes the prom- 

 inent lesions of the disease, and dift'erentiates this malady from all other 

 respiratory afflictions of the domestic fowl. Here it will be called in- 

 fectious trachitis. 



Infectious trachitis has not been definitely rejxtrted outside of the 

 United States and Canada. Newcastle disease, reported by Doyle (I.O'ZT) 

 in England, an enzootic discovered by Kee (1928) in the Philippines, and 

 ii new attiiction of ])oultry in India called "Raitikhef" by Cooper (1929) 

 present some similarities. It may l)e significant to mention that most of 

 our breeds of poultry came originally from the Orient and England. 

 Kernohan (1930) showed that infectious trachitis has existed in this 

 country for a long time. It may be that the relation of these diseases 

 is closer than is realized at jiresent. 



.\ study of the necrojisy records of specimens subnntted to the Depart- 

 ment of X'eterinary Science at the .Massachusetts State College 

 for diagnosis shows that infectious trachitis probably was jiresent in 

 Massachusetts as early as March, 1920. A .study of the records kept 

 the last six months of 1928, and the years 1929 and 1980, indicates that 

 enzootic centers of infectious trachitis existed in nearly all parts of the 



