Intestinal strangulation in germfree and monocontaminated dogs.

Earlier studies in the germfree rat demonstrated that the common intestinal bacteria vary greatly in their ability to cause death after intestinal strangulation. Some of these experiments were repeated in adult, germfree and monocontaminated beagles. Neither short closed-loop hemorrhagic nor long closed-loop ischemic strangulation killed the germfree dog. Either procedure rapidly killed the dog with a conventional bacterial flora or a dog monocontaminated with Clostridium perfringens. The dogs monocontaminated with Bacteroides fragilis died after several days, whereas Escherichia coli killed only one of three animals. These experiments demonstrate the usefulness of the germfree dog as a unique research subject, confirm our earlier studies on intestinal strangulation in germfree rats, and further emphasize the differing lethal potentials of the intestinal bacteria in intestinal strangulation.