HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA IN CATTLE 61 
Board of Health. They report 64 cases of this affection which they 
have examined in cattle in the state of Minnesota. In 1903, Rey- 
nolds described an investigation into several outbreaks of this disease 
in the same state. 
Geographical distribution. It will be seen from the history that 
this disease is a wide spread malady occurring in nearly every coun- 
try. It appears to be more or less prevalent in the temperate and 
tropical countries. It has been reported from many places in the 
United States. 
Etiology. Septicemia hemorrhagica in cattle is caused by an 
organism belonging to the group of bacteria designated by Hueppe as 
the hemorrhagic septicemia group and specifically named Bacillus 
bovisepticus by Kruse. This, according to Migula’s classification, 
should be Bacterium bovisepticum. A brief description of the organ- 
ism as given by Wilson and Brimhall is appended. 
“The organism has a strong tendency to show polar staining in tissues and to form 
chains of much shortened individuals in liquid media, which causes it to be mistaken in 
examinations of a single specimen for a diplococcus or a streptococcus. Sometimes in 
cover-glass preparations from solid organs and very frequently in those from body 
fluids and liquid cultures, the bacteria were found in chains of three to twelve individ- 
uals. In cover-glass preparations the bacteria are from 0.64 to 0.84 broad and from 
1.0 to 1.5@ in length. In tissues which have been fixed in 96 per cent. alcohol, they are 
somewhat smaller. In cultures, especially in fluid media, they are apt to be much 
smaller and approach diplococci in appearance. The ends are rounded. In stained 
preparations directly from the tissues most of the bacteria have the ends intensely 
stained and the central portion but faintly so. In some chains in rapidly growing 
broth cultures this is not the case, many of the individual bacteria being evenly stained 
throughout and somewhat pointed at theends. They do not retain the stain by Gram’s 
method. The organism is non-motile. It is aérobic, but prefers the depths rather 
than the surfaces of the media. It grows best at the body temperature and more 
slowly at room temperature. In plain and dextrose broth a growth appears in 24 
hours. In Dunham’s solution a small amount of indol is formed in 48 hours. No 
coagulation of milk. On Léffler’s blood serum, direct from the diseased tissues, it 
failed to grow well. On potato no appreciable growth has been obtained. In gelatin 
plates small, granular, white to slightly yellowish colonies appear after 48 hours. In 
gelatin stab cultures a light growth occurs on the surface, while along the needle tract 
numerous colonies like those in the deep portions of the plate cultures develop. The 
bacteria are destroyed in fluids at 58° C. in 7 or 8 minutes, by 1 to 5,000 mercuric chlor- 
ide in one minute, and by a solution of lime water as weak as 0.04 per cent. almost 
immediately.” 
The period of incubation is supposed to be very short. The method 
of infection is not known. 
