A CASE OF PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS (PASTEURELLA
PSEUDOTUBERCULOSIS INFECTION) IN THE GOAT
By V. R. RAJAGOPALAN, G.M.V.C., DIP. BACT.(VICT.) and N. S. SANKARANARAYANAN, G.M.V.C.,
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar
(Received for publication on 12 January 1943)
(With Plates IV and V)
LESIONS somewhat resembling those of tuber-
culosis may result from a variety of causes, viz.
coccidiosis, strongylosis and cysticercus infesta-
tion; bacteria such as Pasteurella pseudotubercu-
losis, Corynebacterium ovis, C. murium and C
equi, may also cause similar lesions. Before Koch
introduced the plate technique of isolating pure
cultures of bacteria and elucidated the true cause of
tuberculosis, there is no doubt that several of the
above conditions were often confused with tuber-
culosis.
Malassez and Vignal [1883] are considered to
be the first to recognize the infection with Pasteu-
rella pseudotuberculosis. They described a disease
in a guinea-pig which had been experimentally
inoculated with material from a subcutaneous
nodule in the arm of a child who died of tubercular
meningitis. The resulting lesions resembled
tuberculosis to the naked eye, but instead of the
tubercle bacillus zooglœal masses of coccoid
bodies were found in them. They called the
disease zooglœal tuberculosis. Between 1883
and 1894 several workers described diseases occur-
ring naturally in several species of animals, parti-
cularly rodents, and they believed they were
dealing with the same disease as that of Malassez
and Vignal. The terms
pseudotuberculosis,
zooglœal tuberculosis, bacillary pseudotuberculo-
sis and tuberculiform nodules were freely used in
designating the disease and in describing the result-
ing lesions. Some workers loosely referred to giant
cell-like formations in these lesions, while others
emphasized the rarity or absence of giant cells.
The descriptions, particularly of the causal
organisms, were inadequate. There was confusion
in the picture presented, and the matter undoubted-
ly required clarification, in view of the fact that
Preisz and Guinard [1891] had in the meantime
described a disease in sheep, caseous lympha-
denitis, which they also called pseudotuber-
culosis.
Working towards this end, Preisz [1894] made
a comparative study of all the available strains
which had been isolated from cases of pseudo-
tuberculosis. He came to the conclusion that the
same microbe was responsible for the several cases
of pseudotuberculosis in rodents. He called the
disease 'pseudotuberculosis rodentium' and for
the parasite he adopted the name, Streptobacillus
of pseudotuberculosis. The ovine disease was
caused by a different bacterium, which he designat
ed as pseudotuberculosis ovis.
Pasteurella pseudotuberculosis infection is now
widely recognized as a common cause of an epi-
demic disease among rodents. The disease occurs
in guinea-pigs, rabbits, hares and musk rats.
Within the last decade the prevalence of the disease
among birds has been gradually established. It
has been reported in fowls, turkeys, pigeons,
pheasants, in a black-bird and in canaries. Several
cases of the disease in man are also on record.
Sporadic cases have been encountered in a variety
of other higher animals, such as the cow, horse,
cat, pig, monkey, goat and roe-deer.
Though
the disease has been reported in the higher
animals, it will be seen that except perhaps
in man such animals are only occasionally
affected. The relatively high incidence in the
cat is due to the fact that cats in nature prey
upon rodents. There is only a single record of the
incidence of the disease in goats [Baumann, 1927].
We are, therefore, recording in some detail a case
of pseudotuberculosis encountered by us in a goat.
CLINICAL HISTORY
The case under reference was one of 49 goats
purchased on 9 December 1940 for rinderpest
virus production. It is customary to record
the temperature of these goats for some days
before they are brought under experiment. The
temperatures of the batch to which this goat
(No. 374) belonged were recorded from the date of
purchase. On 4 January 1941, it was reported
that this animal's temperature was 104.9ºF.
On examination, signs of pneumonia were noted.
The temperature remained high for 11 days.
During this period the animal became progressive-
ly weaker and more emaciated. The temperature
gradually declined between the 11th and 15th
day and before death on the 17th day was sub-
normal, and the animal was recumbent.
POST MORTEM FINDINGS
Changes were found in the lungs and
the liver. The former were studded with greyish-
white nodules resembling tubercles, distributed
evenly throughout the substance, each being about
the size of a millet seed and shot-like in consis-
tency (Plate IV, fig. 1). The superficial nodules
were surrounded by areas of congestion and con-
sisted of a hard caseating mass, without any evi-
dence of calcification.
The liver also presented nodules of about the
same size and type, evenly distributed throughout
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