SPLENIC GRANULOMAS IN BROILER-CHICKENS PRODUCED EXPERIMENTALLY BY INOCULATION WITH EUBACTERIUM-TORTUOSUM

Eubacterium tortuosum, a gram-positive anaerobic filamentous bacillus, was isolated from splenic and hepatic granulomas of a 56-day-old slau ghtered chicken. This isolate was injected intravenously into two grou ps of 2-week-old broiler chickens, which were necropsied 19 days later . Five of 15 chickens injected with 5 x 10(6) colony-forming units of a 48-hour culture of E. tortuosum developed splenic granulomas typical of those seen in chickens at slaughter. No lesions were observed in c hickens given 5 x 10(5) colony-forming units of E. tortuosum or in con trol chickens receiving phosphate-buffered saline solution. Attempts t o reisolate E. tortuosum from experimentally infected chickens were un successful; however, typical filamentous organisms were observed in sp lenic granulomas of all five affected chickens.