Transmission of enteritis in the Syrian hamster

Twenty-six of 39 Syrian hamsters obtained by this laboratory from a pet supplier had enteritis and showed signs of "wet tail." An enteritis was reproduced in healthy hamsters by oral inoculation of homogenized ilea and jejuna from the diseased hamsters. The most characteristic pathologicfeatures were a variably enlarged distal jejunum and ileum and granulomatous lesions in the ileal subserosal wall. Histologic findings included a greatly hyperplastic jejunal and ileal mucosa that frequently contained submucosal accumulations of inflammatory cells. Often mucosal glands extended into these areas. The gross and histologic lesions produced were identical to those described in proliferative ileitis. Bacterial cultures from infected tissues consistently grew a slow lactose-fermenting Escherichia coli. Although diarrhea could be produced by oral inoculation of the organism, the typical morphologic lesions were not produced.