I. BARTONELLA INCIDENCE IN SPLENECTOMIZED BILE FISTULA DOGS

Splenectomized bile fistula dogs in this laboratory have regularly exhibited spontaneous periods of anemia, which are associated with excessive bile pigment production. In three out of four dogs, such periods have been shown to be associated with the presence in the blood of bodies morphologically indistinguishable from descriptions of Bartonella canis. Simple splenectomized dogs have not shown such periods of anemia arising spontaneously. Inoculations of blood containing Bartonella bodies into two splenectomized dogs have resulted in intervals of blood destruction associated with the presence in their blood of bodies similar to those in the inoculated blood. Injection of such blood into a splenectomized biliary-renal fistula dog has resulted in a similar picture. Efforts to cultivate Bartonella bodies in artificial culture media have so far been unsuccessful. Neosalvarsan appears to have a specific sterilizing effect on the condition. Spleen extract feeding appears to have an inhibiting effect upon the periods of anemia and bile pigment overproduction.