Corynebacterium bovis as a pathogen in rabbits.

A Corynebacterium identified as Corynebacterium bovis has been isolated from a chronic testicular abscess and the lung of a laboratory rabbit. The strain, on intravenous injection, reproduced a similar disease in the inguinal and vulval region of an experimental rabbit. Sera from both animals showed increasing titres of agglutinating antibody for the isolated Corynebacterium and for kaolin particles sensitised with the phosphatide antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is suggested that the pathogenicity of C bovis for dairy animals be re-evaluated in view of the uncertainty in the literature.