CLOSTRIDIAL POPULATION AND THE INTESTINAL LESIONS IN CHICKENS INFECTED WITH CLOSTRIDIUM-PERFRINGENS AND EIMERIA NECATRIX

Chickens infected with Clostridium perfringens and Eimeria necatrix we re examined bacteriologically and pathologically. When chickens were i noculated with 1.0 X 10(8) C. prefringens and/or 2 x 10(4) E. necatrix sporulated oocysts, populations of C. perfringens in the intestinal c ontents were examined on 3, 5 and 7 days after E. necatrix inoculation . In both groups infected with E. necatrix, the mean clostridial count s were significantly higher than those of uninfected controls. The con current infection had no enhancing effects on increasing the clostridi al population more than E. necatrix-alone. Mortality of 4-day-old chic kens inoculated on 5 consecutive days with C. perfringens after receiv ing E. necatrix was higher than those of chickens inoculated with the both organisms. However, intestinal lesions of the concurrently infect ed group were not different from E. necatrix-alone-infected group on 5 and 7 days after the coccidial infection. When chickens received a la rge dose (1.5 x 10(9)) of C. perfringens after the inoculation with E. necatrix, edema in the duodenum through jejunum were observed early a fter the bacterial broth inoculation. These results suggest that the c oncurrent infection with E. necatrix and C. perfringens increases clos tridial population in the intestine of the chickens and has synergic e ffects on mortality and edema in the upper intestine.