Respiratory disease in a colony of rats. I. The natural disease.

An epidemic of acute respiratory disease in a colony of CFE rats is described, the main laboratory findings are recorded and its aetiology discussed.The epidemic showed that severe respiratory disease varying from peracute to chronic was associated with infection of the lungs with a mycoplasma but that mycoplasmas could be present in rats, even in the lungs, without signs of disease, thus suggesting that one or more other factors were involved. It is also evident that there are strain differences in the susceptibility of rats to this disease.