[Study of cows experimentally infected with atypical mycobacteria]

Cows were infected subcutaneously with Mycobacterium aquae, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Micobacterium vaccae, and Mycobacterium smegmatis. The investigations carried out on the thirtieth day following infection revealed allergic reaction in all cows with close variations when avian and bovine tuberculin were used. The complement-fixation test with blood sera pointed to the presence of specific antibodies for the Mycobacterium genus. The histopathologic reaction in the lymph nodes, established after the slaughter of the animals on the 45th day of infection, was a proliferative-infiltrative one, the epitheloid cells being located at the periphery of the trabecules. Giant cells and necroses were missing.