Agents of psittacosis-lymphogranuloma venereum group isolated from muskrats and snowshoe hares in Saskatchewan

Abstract

Agents lethal to chicken embryos and mice were isolated from the blood and spleen of 2 muskrats and 2 snowshoe hares which died during the cataclysmic die-off of 1961 in Central Saskatchewan. The 4 isolates are probably identical. One of them was identified as a member of the psittacosis-lymphogranuloma venereum (PLV) group of organisms on the basis of morphological and tinctorial properties and on the possession of group specific antigens. Application of the method of specificity differences permitted its serotype differentiation.