FURTHER STUDIES ON THE NATURE OF LUMBAR PARALYSIS IN THE GOAT

In an earlier report (see this journal Vol. I, No. 1) the writer referred to the results of his experiments carried out to investigate the nature of lumbar paralysis occurring among the noble races of goat imported here from Switzerland and their offsprings, and arrived at the conclusion that this disease is an infectious disease anatomically characterized by meningitis spinalis and sclerosis spinalis, its causal organism being a streptococcus.In the present paper details are given of further experiments on this disease. The lesions observed by him consist chiefly of infarnmation of the spinal cord, namely-leptomeningitis serosa et lymphocytica and myelitis circumscripta ventralis with myelomalacia periarterialis in the white matter in earlier stages, while in chronic cases leptomeningitis fibroplastica and gliosis sclerotica spinalis with periarteriitis fibrosa are found. He demonstrated often in the brain leptomeningitis basilaris serosa et lymphocytica, and encephalitis lymphocytica or encephalomalacia perlarterlalrs in the white matter near the ventricles.The streptococcus mentioned in the previous paper was isolated from the cerebro-spinal fluid in all twenty-four cases bacteriologically examined. The organism is a coccus about 0.6-0.8μ in diameter, occurring in pairs or in short chains, Gram-positive, and does not grow well on the artificial media; gelatin is not liquefied, milk not coagulated, and no indol produced. The organism causes hemolysis when grown on blood agar plates, tiny colonies being surrounded by clear zones. The following carbohydrates are fermented: arabinose, dextrin, galactose, glucose, glycerin, inulin, lactose, levulose, maltose, mannite, mannose, raffinose, rhamnose, saccharose, salicin, soluble starch, and sorbite.Twenty healthy goats inoculated intraspinally with cultures of this organism showed symptoms, and anatomical and histological changes similar to those of the natural cases, especially so when the resistance of animals is lessened before the inoculation by bleeding, administration of cresin, or intravenous injection of the serum obtained by immunizing the rabbit with central nervous system of the goat.Results of experiments regarding the reactions of immunity, such as agglutination, precipitation, and complement-fixation, were also satisfactory.In conclusion, the writer emphasizes the streptoccus to be the causal organism of this disease from a bacteriological and immunological point of view, giving to this organism the name Streptococcus caprinus, owing to some differences existing between this and other pathogenic streptococci.