486 DIPHTHERIA IN FOWLS 



in this discussion. Avian diphtheria is reported, however, to 

 attack turkeys, ducks, pea-fowls, pigeons and pheasants. It 

 is presumed that wild birds may be affected. 



Avian diphtheria is quite distinct from human diphtheria. 

 There are cases on record, however, which indicate that the 

 diphtheria of fowls may be communicated to children and 

 cause a serious and even fatal sore throat. On the other hand, 

 it is asserted that diphtheria of children is sometimes com- 

 municated to fowls and that the virus may be thus preserved 

 for a considerable time and again be transmitted to children. 

 Concerning this point additional investigations are needed. 



§ 377. History. The history of this disease is some- 

 what obscure. It is evident from the literature, that fowls 

 have always been subject to various affections of the head but 

 the first investigation of this class of maladies seems to have 

 been made by Loefifler^'^ in 1884. Since that time Klemmert, 

 Babes and Puscarin J, Eberlin ||, Loir and Ducloux • and 

 others have studied diseases known as diphtheria in pigeons, 

 fowls and other birds. The disease was investigated i)y the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry in 1893-4. It has more recently 

 been studied in California by Ward, in New York b}- Mack, 

 and at Guelph, Ontario, by Harrison and Streit. 



§ 378. Etiology. In 1884, Loeffler discovered a bac- 

 terium which he believed to be the specific cause of diphtheria 

 in fowls and with which he could produce the disease. It 

 differed from the diphtheria bacterium in man. Loir and 

 Ducloux isolated a still different organism. The writer found 

 in the exudates of the earlier stages of the disease a bacterium 

 belonging to the septicemia hemorrhagica group. It was 

 rapidly fatal to rabbits but the diphtheritic lesions could not be 

 produced by inoculation in fowls. In the examinations of the 



*Mitt. aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte. Bd. II ( 1884), S. 214. 

 tBerliner theirarzt. Wochenschrift. 1890, No. ib, S. 138. 

 tZeitschrift f. Hygiene. Bd. VIII (1890), S. 374. 

 IIMonatshefte f. Thierheilkunde. Bd. V (1894), S. 433. 

 lAnn. de I'lnst. Pasteur. Tome VIII (1894), p. 599. 



