The Distribution of the Infectious Synovitis Agent in the Tissues of Artificially Infected Chickens

well as in the exudates of the hock and keel bursae. Bacteriological examination of these same tissues was made but no colonies were produced on nutrient agar, blood agar or PPLO agar (Difco). The agent did poduce mortality when inocula prepared from the above mentioned tissues were injected into the yolk sac of 7-day embryonated chicken eggs. This initial study and later reports by Wills,6,7 first suggested the viruslike nature of the synovitis agent. Olson4 reported the isolation of the agent by inoculation of the synovial exudate which is characteristic of the disease into the yolk sac of 6-day embryonated chicken eggs Cover,2 et al. stated that the agent was isolated from inocula prepared from the liver, spleen and exudate of the synovial sacs by similar embryo passage. Filtration experiments using Seitz filters showed that the agent passed the 5.0 and 2.0 micron pads but was held by the 0.1 micron pad.