Studies on the pathogenesis of staphylococcal osteomyelitis in chickens. II. Role of the respiratory tract as a route of infection.

The mucous membranes and skin of birds are often colonized by staphylococci (3). Staphylococcal strains isolated from chickens that died from staphylococcosis and those isolated from their skin or nasal sinuses had similar biochemical characters (2,10). It has been suggested that outbreaks of staphylococcosis have resulted from tissue invasion with strains initially established on the skin or in the upper respiratory tract (3). Traumatic wounds and mosquito bites have been suggested as routes of entry (4,5), but the disease has not been reproduced by subcutaneous inoculation in chickens (9). The disease has been reproduced by intravenous inoculation in chickens (11) and turkeys (7). In this study, an attempt was made to reproduce the disease via the respiratory route using intravenous inoculation as a control.