THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF A RABBIT RESPIRATORY INFECTION : II. CLINICAL, PATHOLOGICAL, AND BACTERIOLOGICAL STUDY OF SNUFFLES

Abstract

100 adult rabbits taken at random from The Rockefeller Institute animal house were examined clinically, anatomically, and bacteriologically for evidence of respiratory infection. 58 of these rabbits proved to have snuffles; 42 were free of the disease. Bacterium lepisepticum was the predominating organism in the nasal flora of 55 of the 58 rabbits showing snuffles. This organism was also cultured from the nasal passages of eight normal rabbits. Bacillus bronchisepticus was associated with Bacterium lepisepticum in the nasal flora of eight rabbits with snuffles. It was also cultured from the nares of twenty-two normal rabbits. Fifteen normal rabbits showed neither Bacterium lepisepticum nor Bacillus bronchisepticus.