Abstract
In his original description of the disease which he called tularemia, McCoy 1 considered the possible susceptibility of birds to this disease. Included in the list of species which he tested for susceptibility to the disease was the common pigeon. In all, he inoculated 4 pigeons with the spleen of guinea pigs dying from tularemia. He reported that the birds remained alive and apparently well.
In a previous paper 2 we reported that the ruffed grouse is very susceptible to tularemia. In a later report 3 it was stated that a varying susceptibility to this disease had been found in a number of other species of bird which had been tested. Further studies have been carried out on the degree of susceptibility of the ring-necked pheasant to experimental tularemia.
Pheasant No. 1 was inoculated in an open abrasion through the skin of the back, with heart's blood from a grouse dying of experimental tularemia. A control guinea pig inoculated with the same material died on the 3rd day with enlarged glands, and spleen and liver typical of tularemia. The pheasant remained apparently well, and was chloroformed on the 27th day. Its blood showed agglutination for Bact. tularense in a dilution of 1:10 and above. No scar was discernible on the back at the site of inoculation. Necropsy showed internal organs normal. Three guinea pigs were inoculated from pheasant No. 1 as follows:
No. 1. Spleen. Killed on 17th day. Normal. No. 2. Liver. Died on 8th day. NO findings of typical tularemia. Its fiver and spleen were inoculated into another guinea pig, which showed no evidence of tularemia.
Pheasant No. 2. Inoculated in an abrasion through skin of back with the spleen of a guinea pig dead of tularemia. Did not develop any apparent symptoms of disease. Was chloroformed on the 12th day. Agglutination test was negative at the time of inoculation and negative just before death in a dilution of 1:10 and above. Abrasion of the skin perfectly healed. Slight superficial redness at inoculation site on under side of skin. Internal organs appeared to be normal. Guinea pigs were inoculated with tissue as follows:
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