216 BACILLARY WHITE DIARRHEA OF FOWLS 
BACILLARY WHITE DIARRHEA OF FOWLS 
Synonym. Fatal septicemia in young chicks. 
Characterization. Bacillary white diarrhea is a disease of young 
chickens characterized by depression, loss of appetite, labored breath- 
ing, and the presence in the tissues of Bacterium pullorum. This 
disease usually affects chickens from 1 to 4 days old but adults are 
sometimes attacked. 
History. In 1908 Rettger and Harvey published a description of a 
disease called fatal septicemia in young chickens or white diarrhea, 
in which they found the cause to be a bacterium which they named 
Bacterium pullorum. Rettger and his co-workers published during 
the next two or three years several articles on this subject, giving 
detailed accounts of the various phases of the disease. Morse in 
1908 published an article on “White diarrhea in chicks with notes 
on the coccidiosis of birds.” He claimed that much of this so-called 
trouble in chickens is due to coccidiosis, identifying the parasite as 
Coccidium tenellum. In the same year Milks described the disease 
from Louisiana. In 1909 Cushing described a white diarrhea under 
the title of Aspergillosis. In 1910, Jones confirmed the findings of 
Rettger concerning its etiology. In 1911, Gage pointed out the 
ovarian infection in fowls with Bact. pullorum. He isolated the 
organism from the ovaries of three hens in two of which he states 
there was gangrene. Gage also found Bact. pullorum in the ovaries of 
a number of adult hens dying from a then unknown disease. The 
same year, Jones demonstrated that a number of adult fowls that had 
been infected when young chicks and had recovered carried the 
organisms in their ovaries. He found the ovaries to be abnormal. 
He also showed that the localization of the lesions in the ovaries of 
adult hens could be produced by the intravenous injection of 1.5 cc. of 
a bouillon culture of the organism. Later, Jones investigated an out- 
break among adult fowls from which he obtained the organism from 
the ovaries of the dead hens. The ovaries in practically all of these 
cases were abnormal. 
Geographical distribution. This disease of chickens seems to be 
widely distributed in the United States. 
Etiology. The cause of bacillary white diarrhea is Bact. pullorum. 
It is present in the organs of the infected chickens. It is from 2y, to 
3.5u in length and about 0.5y. in width. The ends are rounded. In 
