484 DIPHTHERIA IN FOWLS 
Fowls (genus Gallus) and pigeons (genus Columba) are most com- 
monly attacked and they are the only ones considered in this discus- 
sion. Avian diphtheria is reported, however, to attack turkeys, 
ducks, pea-fowls, pigeons and pheasants. It is presumed that wild 
birds may be affected. 
Avian diphtheria is quite distinct from human diphtheria. There 
are cases on record, however, which indicate that the diphtheria of 
fowls may be communicated to children and cause a serious and even 
fatal sore throat. It is also asserted that diphtheria of children is 
sometimes communicated to fowls and that the virus may be thus 
preserved for a considerable time and again be transmitted to children. 
Concerning this point further investigations are needed. 
History. The history of this disease is somewhat obscure. It is 
evident from the literature, that fowls have always been subject to 
various affections of the head but the first investigation of this class 
of maladies seems to have been made by Leeffler* in 1884. Since that 
time Klemmerf, Babes and Puscarin{, Eberlin||, Loir and Ducloux{ 
and others have studied diseases known as diphtheria in pigeons, fowls 
and other birds. The disease was investigated by the Bureau of 
Animal Industry in 1893-4. It has been studied in California by 
Ward, in New York by Mack, and at Guelph, Ontario, by Harrison. 
and Streit. 
Geographical distribution. Chicken diphtheria seems to be more 
or less common in countries where poultry raising is an industry. 
Etiology. In 1884, Loeffler discovered a bacterium which he 
believed to be the specific cause of diphtheria in fowls and with which 
he could produce the disease. It differed from the bacterium of 
diphtheria in man. Loir and Ducloux isolated a still different organ- 
ism. Moore found in the exudates of the earlier stages of the disease 
a bacterium belonging to the septicemia hemorrhagica group. It was 
rapidly fatal to rabbits but the diphtheritic lesions could not be pro- 
duced by inoculation in fowls. King found a bacterium belonging to 
this group on the conjunctiva of a healthy fowl. Harrison and Streit 
described an organism, Bacillus cacosmus, which they consider specific. 
*Mitt. aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte. Bd. II (1884), S. 214. 
{Berliner thierarzt. Wochenschrift. 1890, No. 18, S. 138. 
{Zeitschrift f. Hygiene. Bd. VIII (1890), S. 374. 
][Monatshefte f. Thierbeikkunde. Bd. V. (1894), S. 433. 
gjAnn. del’ Inst. Pasteur. Tome VIII (1894), p. 599. 
