AVIAN TUBERCULOSIS 149 



perfect immunity. The avian tuberculous bacilli usually develop badly in 

 mammals ; and, on the other hand, mammalian tubercle bacilli are 

 acclimated with difficulty in birds. 



At the recent Congress in Paris, M. Nocard communicated the 

 following interesting facts regarding avian tuberculosis. The fowl 

 cannot be infected by inoculation with tuberculosis from a human being 

 any more than from a bovine. On the other hand, the dog and guinea- 

 pig, although most susceptible to the action of both human and bovine 

 tuberculosis, are very refractory to avian tuberculosis. If, however, a 

 guinea-pig is inoculated intraperitoneally with avian tuberculous material, 

 it often dies, showing a special kind of lesion. The sputum of a 

 tuberculous patient will kill a rabbit by inoculation, but only very rarely 

 a guinea-pig. M. Nocard enveloped a glycerinated bouillon culture of 

 human tuberculosis in little sacs of collodion, and placed them in the 

 peritoneal cavities of poultry. The sacs were removed in from five to 

 eight months, and found to contain a sort of paste made up of bacilli. 

 Cultures instituted from this paste grew extremely well, and the 

 interesting fact was observed that the bacillus had lost its human 

 characteristics and assumed those of the avian bacillus. It grew at high 

 temperatures, and the cultures did not present the characteristic frayed- 

 out lumps. The bacillus was not virulent enough to produce tuberculosis 

 in fowls until it was passed through two or three fowls, and a period of 

 four to six months had elapsed. In one case a fowl suddenly contracted 

 tuberculosis eleven months after the introduction of the collodion sac. 

 At the post-mortem examination it was found that the sac had burst, 

 showing that development had proceeded far enough when the sac 

 ruptured to produce tubercle in the fowl. Nocard considers that human 

 and avian tuberculosis are only two different varieties of the same disease. 



Diagnosis. The examination of the tuberculous material for 

 bacilli is conducted the same as the examination of human and 

 mammalian material. 



Nocard states that if, as appears probable from his investiga- 

 tions with equine tuberculosis, the human subject may contract 

 tuberculosis from the fowl, the most elementary prudence requires 

 that the sale of fowls coming from a place in which the disease exists 

 ought to be interdicted, for the consumption of a fowl in the roasted 

 condition involves the risk of the ingestion of a considerable number 

 of living and virulent bacilli. 



PSEUDO-TUBERCULOSIS. 



The term ' pseudo-tuberculosis ' is applied to certain pathological 

 processes which resemble the genuine tubercle, but are dependant on 



