LEPTOSPIROSIS IN CATTLE

From abnormal milk of cows an agent has been transmitted to guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, and embryonated eggs. This agent caused a febrile reaction in guinea pigs and rabbits and an inapparent infection in mice. In early passages embryonated eggs were unaffected but later death of embryos occurred 7 days after inoculation. When blood from infected guinea pigs or chorioallantoic fluid from infected eggs was inoculated subcutaneously or intranasally into young calves, fever with albuminuria and more rarely hemoglobinuria was produced, in lactating cows the infection resembled that seen in animals with natural disease. Pen contact of normal cows and calves with infected calves resulted in inapparent infection. Autopsies showed that in addition to causing altered milk secretion, the agent damaged the kidneys and produced an interstitial nephritis. The agent was recovered from blood and milk during the febrile period and was demonstrated in the urine for periods long afterwards. Antibodies for the spirochete were found in the sera of experimental animals and of cows recovered from the natural disease. The blood of infected guinea pigs, the chorioallantoic fluid from infected eggs, and the blood or urine from experimentally infected calves yielded a culture of a spirochete which appeared identical with the infective agent in comparative tests of physical, pathogenic, and immunological properties.