Experiment Station Record, Volume 92, January-June, 1945 Page: 117

                                
1945]                    VETERINARY MEDICINE                            117
Lamellar cataract in chickens, H. M. DEVOLT.  (Univ. Md.). (Poultry Sci.,
23 (1944), No. 4, pp. 346-348, illus. 1).-A  number of cases encountered in a
brood of chickens subjected to strong light in a basement and a modified war-time
ration are noted.
What to do when "blue comb" strikes, E. JUNGHERR (Poultry Tribune, 50
(1944), No. 7, pp. 9, 41-42, illus. 2).--This disease, also referred to as pullet disease
and summer disease, is discussed as to symptoms, course, and suggested treatment.
Vacinagao e mortalidade na c6lera aviaria [Increase in mortality following
vaccination against fowl cholera], J. REIS and R. C. BUENO (Arq. Inst. Biol.
[Sao Paulo], 14 (1943), pp. 81-86; Eng. abs., pp. 85-86).-The authors report that
mortality due to fowl cholera may be highly increased when a living vaccine (109 T)
is applied to the flock at the onset of the epidemic. Controlled experiments have
shown this to be due to the presence, in the early stages of the epidemic, of a
large number of birds which temporarily harbor the fowl-cholera micro-organism
in the palatine cleft. Healthy carriers, defined as birds in whose mouth cavity
the micro-organism succeeded in becoming established, are able to withstand with
no harmful effects the inoculation of the living vaccine.
It is concluded that the living vaccine should not be used in the early stages of
an epidemic, and that the test for the detection of healthy carriers should be made
only after it begins to subside.
The development of families of chickens free of lymphomatosis, N. F. WATERS
and C. 0. PRICKETT.  (U. S. D. A.). (Poultry Sci., 23 (1944), No. 4, pp. 321233,
illus. 6).-Observations of the mortality of 3,223 White Leghorns bred for
resistance and susceptibility to lymphomatosis, hatched and reared in mixed populations
or in isolated pens, are recorded for the 4 yr. 1939-42. Birds died from the
disease at 40 to over 1,200 days of age. The high incidence of lymphomatosis
among nine different strains confined to isolated quarters, even though infectious
diseases and parasites, except coccidiosis, were prohibited, incriminated the egg as
a carrier of the condition. Conclusive evidence also showed that the disease may be
spread by contact.
Leucose linf6ide hemocitoblastica da galinha [Hemocytoblastic lymphoid
leucosis of poultry], J. F. DE SALLES (Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Crux, 39 (1943), No. 3,
pp. 385-388, ills. 3; Eng. abs., p. 388).-Two cases are described in which the
lesions are characterized by a marked enlargement of the liver and intense lympho'cytic
infiltration. The cells are classified as hemocytoblastic, since they produce
erythrocytes, myelocytes, and lymphocytes.
A Salmonella enteritidis infection associated with.leg deformity in turkeys,
W. A. HIGGINS, J. B. CHRISTIANSEN, and C. H. SCHROEDER (Poultry Sci., 23
(1944), No. 4, pp. 340-341; illus. 2).-A type of hock disorder severely affecting
at least 100 of a flock of about 900 turkeys to a degree preventing their being
marketed in the usual manner is noted.
The relation of selenium to western duck sickness, H. W. LAKIN, E. R.
QUORTRUP, and N. HOTCHKISS (Auk, 61 (1944), No. 3, pp. 415-420).-Following
a reconnaissance survey in North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Utah,
Oregon, and California of areas in which losses from western duck sickness were
known to exist, livers and gizzards of both sick and healthy waterfowl were analyzed
for selenium, as were also samples of mud from each area and some samples
of vegetation. While selenium was generally present in detectable quantities it
did not "appear to be a factor in western duck sickness .... That the small
amounts of selenium in their diet and drinking water should cause the tremendous
losses of waterfowl experienced in some of these areas is most unlikely."