STUDIES ON PATHOGENIC B. COLI FROM BOVINE SOURCES : II. MUTATIONS AND THEIR IMMUNOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

On agar plates certain strains of B. coli from the ileum of calves suffering from diarrhea or scours promptly mutate and give rise to forms which have lost capsular substance, whose virulence has been greatly reduced, and which have gained very greatly in agglutinability and in being taken up by leucocytes. The original characters are not regained in cultures kept in the cold after development, nor in rapid transfers in bouillon, nor in passages through the peritoneal cavity of guinea pigs. Filtrates of 48 hour bouillon cultures contain as much toxin in the (b) as in the (a) form indicating no loss in this function.