DIAGNOSIS OF INFECTION WITH B. PULLORUM. 9 



this experiment during Juh', August and the first part of September 32 

 were found to contain the organism, detected in hens Nos. 10, 18, 6, 5, 2, 

 52, 13, 792, 8, 1, 2096, 7, 714, 267, 48 and 464. With hen No. 10, 11 eggs 

 were tested, covering a hiving period of seventeen days, before the organ- 

 ism was detected. With hen No. 18, 8 eggs were tested, covering a laying 

 period of sixteen days prior to its detection. With hen No. 6, 5 eggs were 

 tested, covering a laj^ng period of six days. With hen No. 5, 12 eggs 

 were tested, covering a laying period of twenty days. With the other 11 

 infected birds it varied from the 6th to the 21st egg laid before Bacterium 

 puUorum was detected for the first time, and the laying periods varied from 

 eight to sixty-one days (see Table 5 on page 10). 



It is interesting to note at this point that all the hens, except 22, which 

 were received from the Maryland Experiment Station, previously inocu- 

 lated intravenously with a pure culture of Bacterium pullorum, after two 

 years, showed positively the ovarian infection. This is in full agreement 

 with the work of Dr. Jones, — that it is possible to cause local infection 

 and cause such infection through the blood system. 



As stated before, it has not been the primary object of these egg tests 

 to make an exhaustive study of the value of diagnosis of ovarian infection 

 by this method, but it has been of importance to determine by it if possible 

 the number of these hens infected, to use as a check on the work on agglu- 

 tination which was to follow. 



Therefore, according to these tests hens Nos. 10, 8, 6, 5, 2, 52, 13, 792, 

 714, 8, 1, 2096, 7, 48 and 464 are all infected hens, the organism having 

 been demonstrated conclusively in their eggs. It should also be stated 

 that prior to starting experiments with these birds the organism had been 

 detected in hen No. 267. From our work just cited it can be seen that in 

 those hens which did lay eggs containing Bact. pidlorum, the elimination 

 from the ovayy was so irregular that it would be impossible to make a 

 diagnosis in a short time. 



Since there was at hand such good material for study it was considered 

 of importance to study the macroscopic agglutination test, as suggested 

 by Jones ^" ^, — as regards the practicabihty of the tests, the test fluids 

 and important steps to be observed in making the diagnosis, — and to 

 carry out the test with three laboratory technicians to determine the 

 value of this macroscopic test as a laboratory procedure for the diagnosis 

 of this infection in adult hens. 



This test depends upon the specific agglutinin elaborated in the blood 

 serum of hens harboring the organism. The test requires a test fluid con- 

 taining a suspension of Bacterium pullorum in 0.85 per cent, salt solution, 

 preserved with 0.5 per cent. carboHc acid, and the specific agglutinin, di- 

 luted in varying amounts from suspected individuals. The agglutinins 

 act on dead as well as living organisms. 



1 Jones, F. S.: Report, New York State Veterinary College for 1910-11, p. 76. 



- Jonea, F. S. : "The value of the macroscopic agglutination test in detecting fowla that are 

 harboring Bact. pullorum." Journal Medical Research, Vol. XXVII., No. 4; N. S., Vol. XXII., 

 No. 4, pp. 485-495. 



