USE OF AN EXPERIMENTAL CHICKS MODEL FOR PARATUBERCULOSIS ENTERITIS (JOHNES-DISEASE)

Developments in the diagnosis and treatment of paratuberculosis is con strained by the lack of an experimental animal model. To investigate t his problem conventional chicks immunodepressed by a Cyclophosphamide injection and concurrent inoculation of Infectious Bursal Disease Viru s (IBDV) were infected with Mycobacterium paratuberculosis and kept fo r 4 months, The immunodepressed chicks eliminated mycobacteria with th eir faeces from the first month until the third month and developed ty pical intestinal lesions of mycobacterial infection characterized by a ggregation of macrophages with monocytes and lymphocytes. Diarrhoea wa s absent. The number of lymphocytes decreased by about 80%. The serolo gical tests carried out with Complement Fixation test were negative, F or the positive bacteriology and typical granulomatous lesions, the co nventionally reared chicks proved to be a useful laboratory model for reproduction of Johne's disease.