Avian Tuberculosis

Abstract

A discussion of avain tuberculosis may conveniently be carried out under five heads. First, communicable nature of the disease; second, methods of dissemination; third, detection; fourth, post-mortem appearance of the tubercular bird; and fifth, control.Communicable Natureofthe Disease.When Robert Koch, in 1882, discovered the bacillus of tuberculosis, he established the fact that this organism was the sole direct cause of tuberculosis in mammals, and that no case of the disease could possibly occur unless the germs gained entrance to the body of the susceptible individual from an already existing case. Later researches showed that in this particular, tuberculosis in birds differs in nowise from the disease in man and the lower animals. Although poorly lighted or poorly ventilated houses, insufficient or unwholesome food, errors in breeding, the presence of mites, or any other condition which would tend to lower the normal vigor and vitality of the birds .