A haemolytic variant ofActinobacillus equulicausing an acute septicaemia in a foal

Abstract

Extract This paper describes the isolation of a haemolytic variant of Actinobacillus equuli from a foal which died from acute septicaemia. Foal deaths due to non-haemolytic A. Equuli (also known as Shigella equirulus) in New Zealand have been described previously by Hutchinson ( 1956 Hutchinson, Sally C. 1956. Shigella equirulus infection in a foal. N.Z. vet. J., 4: 119–120. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar] ) and Bloomberg ( 1963 Bloomberg, J. H. 1963. Atypical symptoms in a case of sleepy foal disease (Actinobacillus equuli infection). N.Z. vet. J., 11: 125–126. [Taylor & Francis Online] [Google Scholar] ).