BACILLARY WHITE DIARRHEA (BACTERIUM 



PULLORUM INFECTION) IN YOUNG 



CHICKS IN MASSACHUSETTS. 



By G. EDWARD GAGE and BERYL H. PAIGE 



(Department of Veterinary Science) 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Purpose. 



The object of this paper is to set forth the facts concerning bacillary 

 white diarrhea of young chicks, together with a discussion concerning its 

 cause, distribution, diagnosis and economic importance in the State of 

 Massachusetts. It includes, also, the results obtained from the work of 

 the Department of Veterinary Science in applying the macroscopic agglu- 

 tination test as a means of detecting adult hens which may be the source 

 of infection. 



Brief History of Disease. 



In 1900 Rettger * reported a peculiar ailment of hen-hatched chicks, 

 and isolated from the liver and spleen an organism, pure cultures of which, 

 when inoculated into healthy chicks, resulted in a reproduction of the 

 disease; he was able to recover the organism from the internal organs of 

 the dead chicks. In 1901 he ^ again reported a serious epidemic occurring 

 on three adjoining farms and involving hundreds of chicks, all of which 

 were hen-hatched. About 80 per cent, of the total flocks died, all exhibit- 

 ing symptoms similar to those of the first epidemic. The organism was 

 isolated, and inoculation experiments were again successful. 



In 1908 Rettger and Harvey, ^ and in 1909 Rettger* alone, reported 

 work carried on in connection with other epidemics showing that 

 the organism was recovered and the disease successfully reproduced. 

 They also described the details of attempts to transmit the disease. At 

 this time the organism was designated Bacterium puUorum. 



In 1909, after having carried on extensive co-operative experiments 

 with Professor Stoneburn at the Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station, ^ 



1 Rettger: "Fatal Septicemia in Young Chicks." New Yorlc Medical Journal, Vol. LXXI., 



1900, p. 803. 



- Rettger: "Fatal Septicemia in Young Chickens." New Y'ork MedicalJournal, Vol. LXXIII., 



1901, p. 267. 



3 Rettger and Harvey: "Fatal Septicemia in Y'oung Chickens or White Diarrhea." Journal 

 of Medical Research, Vol. XVIIL, 1908, pp. 277-290. 



* Rettger: "Further Studies on Fatal Septicemia in Y'oung Chickens or White Diarrhea." 

 Journal of Medical Research, Vol. XXI., 1909, pp. 115-123. 



' Rettger and Stoneburn: "Bacillary Wnite Diarrhea of Young Chicks," Bulletin No. 60, 

 Storrs Agricultural Experiment Station. 



