1 68 ASTHENIA IN FOWLS AND PIGEONS 



1 20° F. It is fatal to rabbits within 24 hours when inoculated 

 into the abdominal cavit}' w-ith 0.5 c. c. of a bouillon culture. 

 Chickens inoculated with this organism remained well. 



§ 129. Symptoms. The only symptoms which seem to 

 be in evidence are the gradual loss of flesh and an exceedingly 

 good appetite. It is reported by certain pigeon fanciers con- 

 cerning pigeons and the fact is reiterated by Dawson, that the 

 disease is an exceedingly chronic one, often extending over a 

 period of several months but usually terminating in death. 

 In the cases reported, the fowls were well kept and given an 

 abundance of nourishing food. There seems to be an inability 

 on the part of the affected animal to assimilate nourishment. 



§ 130. Morbid anatomy. The most conspicuous lesion 

 is extreme emaciation. According to Dawson the mucosa of 

 the duodenum contains areas in which the walls are deeply 

 reddened and in which the contents are of a mucoid substance. 

 The writer made a number of post-mortems in pigeons suffer- 

 ing from this disease without finding any gross tissue changes. 



This disease needs further investigation but the fact that 

 an organism has been found in the duodenum in large numbers 

 wl^ere it multiplies and apparently produces by-products that 

 are absorbed, and which interfere with the normal metabolism 

 of the body, is of sufficient interest to call attention to the 

 preliminary findings herein mentioned. It is not unlikeh- 

 that if the present hypothesis concerning the nature of this 

 disease is verified that a number of disorders now attributed 

 to general causes may be traced to some form of intestinal 

 infection. 



REFERENCES. 



I. Dawson. .Asthenia (going light) in fowls. Annual Report 

 of the Bureau of Animal Industry U. S. Department of Agriculture^ 

 1898. p. 329. 



