FOWL TYPHOID 17 
FOWL TYPHOID 
Characterization. A specific disease of fowls caused by Bacterium 
sanguinarium. It is not known whether or not other species of 
domesticated birds are susceptible. 
History. This disease was briefly described by Moore in 1895. 
At that time it had been studied in but a few fowls and these the last 
to die in their respective flocks. In the following year other fowls. 
were examined very carefully from two outbreaks of the disease and 
it is upon the data obtained in this investigation together with those 
procured from many produced cases that the description of the disease 
is based. It was described as an infectious leukemia. Further 
investigation, however, has shown that the excess of white corpuscles. 
was due to a leucocytosis brought about by the infecting organism 
and that the disease is not a leukemia. 
It was found by Smith in 1894, on Block Island, R. I. In 1898, 
Dawson found it to be the cause of very serious losses among poultry 
near Baltimore, Md. In all of the outbreaks studied, the owners of 
the fowls first reported the disease as chicken cholera. In 1902, 
Curtice investigated an outbreak in Rhode Island. 
Geographical distribution. It was first studied in fowls taken 
from an outbreak in Virginia. Since then, it has been identified in 
Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the State of Rhode Island. 
There is good evidence in the numerous reports of destructive fowl 
diseases to believe that it is quite widespread in the United States. 
Etiology. Moore isolated and described a pathogenic bacterium 
which he designated Bacterium sanguinarium. With this organism 
the disease has been produced in healthy fowls both by feeding 
cultures and by intravenous injections. Its etiological relation to the 
disease is, therefore, quite clearly established. It is possible that 
certain accompanying conditions may be necessary in conjunction 
with the organism to cause the disease to spread rapidly in a flock. 
Experimentally it did not spread from diseased (inoculated or fed) 
to healthy fowls when kept in the same yard. 
Symptoms. From the statement of the owners of the diseased 
fowls in the different outbreaks and from the appearance of those in 
which the disease was artificially produced, little can be positively 
stated concerning the early symptoms. There is a pronounced 
anemic condition of the mucosa of the head. An examination of the 
