[Pathomorphological changes in experimental Erysipelothrix infection in lambs]

Investigations were carried out with eight lambs treated i/v with a broth culture of Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae at the rate of 10(8) microbial cells per 1 cm3. Following infection the lambs developed polyarthritis. Studied were the morphologic changes in both dead and slaughtered lambs at various intervals after the infection was performed. It was found that from the 2nd up to the 7th day the lesions were characterized by moderate infiltration (neutrophil granulocytes) of the parenchymal organs as well as by dystrophic- and necrotic foci in the liver and hyperemia, edema, and hemorrhages in the spleen, lung, and brain. After the 7th day were found reticulohistiocytic proliferations in the liver and heart, and intracapillary glomerulonephritis, thromboendocarditis, and polyarthritis.