288 Diseases of Poultry 



symptoms of white diarrhea and in many cases die. To 

 cite only one case ; at the Storrs Experiment Station (Bui. 

 68) chicks 12 hours old were fed cultures of this organism. 

 During twenty-five days allotted to the experiment the 

 mortality of the infected chicks was 76 per cent, while that 

 of the controls was only 4 per cent. 



In many cases Rettger was able to find Bacterium puUorum 

 pure in the artificially infected birds. Further he was able 

 to obtain the same bacterium from a large number of differ- 

 ent chicks gathered from widely different localities. 



These results of Rettger and his associates have been 

 confirmed not only by their own later work but also by 

 others. Thus Jones ^ was able to produce the disease in 

 healthy chicks by inoculation with this organism. Inocu- 

 lation of chicks 24 hours old gave a mortality of 82.5 per 

 cent, while in the controls it was only 2 per cent. Gage ^ 

 isolated this organism from the ovaries of adult fowls and 

 proved by inoculation that it would produce the disease in 

 young chicks. 



Conclusive evidence has been produced that it is only 

 during the first few days of its life that a chick is liable to 

 infection with this disease. It has been shown at the 

 Storrs Station ^ that the greatest danger of infection lies 

 within the first 48 hours, but that infection may take place 

 up to four days or occasionally later in the case of weak 

 chickens. The same writers have shown that in the majority 



1 Jones, F. S., "Fatal Septicemia or Bacillary White Diarrhea of 

 Young Chickens." Report of N. Y. State Vet. CoUege for 1910, 

 pp. 111-129. 



2 Gage, G. E., "Notes on Ovarian Infection with Bacterium 

 pullorum (Rettger) in the Domestic Fowl." Jour. Med. Research, 

 Vol. 24, pp. 491-496, 1911. 



' Rettger, L. F., Kirkpatrick, W. L., and Stoneburn, F. H., 

 "Bacillary White Diarrhea in Young Chicks." Conn. (Storrs) 

 Agr. Expt. Stat. Bui. 74, pp. 155-185, 1912. 



