742 



Infectious Abortion. 



premature Ijirtli in a mare 28 days after the injection into the 

 vagina of 25 ec. of culture and the chorion exudate contained 

 numerous bacilli. (Nowak caused abortion in guinea pigs and 

 rabbits by subcutaneous, intravenous, or intraperitoneal injec- 

 tions of pure cultures.) 



The bacilli are always found in large numbers in the 

 exudate of the fetal membranes and of the cotyledons, either 

 free in the serous exudate or enclosed in cells, 

 besides these locations the organisms may also 

 l:)e demonstrated in the intestinal contents, in the 

 blood, as well as in other organs of the aborted 

 fetus. 



In no case of infectious abortion of mares 

 did Ostertag find the Bang bacillus in the fetal 

 membranes, but in its stead he found short G-ram- 

 negative streptococci in the heart blood, pleural 

 fluid, and in the stomach contents of the still- 

 born foals, as well as in the sub-chorial edema. 

 They grow on serum agar in the form of fine 

 deposits, which are hardly visiljle to the naked 

 eye, in stab agar as a frail thread reaching 

 from the surface to the bottom of the tube, 

 while in serum bouillon after two days' growth 

 there appears a uniform turbidity which after 

 two more days sinks to the bottom. In seven 

 cases the streptococci were obtained in pure 

 culture from the bodies of the fetuses, in the 

 other cases the streptococci were found in com- 

 mon with other bacteria on the surface of the 

 chorion ; in the chorion some were present in the 

 epithelial cells. 



One mare aborted twenty days after the in- 

 travenous injection of the culture, another one 

 give birth after a vaginal injection at the noi'mal 

 time to a very weak foal; in the heart blood of 

 the fetus from the first mare the streptococci 

 could be demonstrated, and they were also pres- 

 ent in the reddish-gray, thick deposits of the uterus of a mare 

 killed immediately after having aborted. 



Aside from the use of pure cultures the artificial produc- 

 tion of abortion was repeatedly made possible in pregnant 

 animals by the transference into their genital tracts of vaginal 

 discharge and portions of fetal membrane from aborting animals 

 of the same species, and this is not only true with reference 

 to cows (Briiuer, Lelmert, Trinchera), but also in mares 

 (Ostertag, Guillerey) ; on the other hand the introduction of 

 shreds of fetal meml)ranes from mares into 10 cows and two 

 goats failed to cause abortion (Ostertag). 



Afconliiif; to Lignirrps the liacillus of tuberculosis 700gb(|iic may also cause 

 abortion imbrectiy, wheu it enters the alimentary tract with food. By the eliniina- 



Fig. 126. Agar 

 culture of the ba- 

 cillus of aliortioii. 



(After Preisz.) 



