Susceptibility of chicks to experimental infections with Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Chicks were given intracerebral inoculations of Neisseria gonorrhoeae of colony types 1 or 2 one to two days after hatching. Small numbers ofN. gonorrhoeae initiated lethal infection provided that the body temperature of the animals was not maintained at levels harmful to the microbes per se. The disease process, which appeared to be localized intracranially rather than disseminated by bacteremia, merits further investigation as a model for the study of pathogenetic and immunologic mechanisms in gonococcal infection.