Experimental hamster enteritis: an electron microscopic study.

Hamster enteritis (HE) was experimentally produced in weanling hamsters by orally inoculating healthy hamsters with suspensions of ilea obtained from hamsters with HE. Control groups of hamsters were inoculated orally with suspensions of ilea from healthy hamsters. Electron microscopy was done on ilea from 6 control hamsters, 31 hamsters with experimentally produced HE, and 4 hamsters with naturally occurring HE. Ultrastructural changes were not observed in the absorptive epithelium of control animals. Two different intracytoplasmic bacterial organisms were observed in epithelial cells of hamsters with experimentally produced HE. Organisms that were observed early in the disease process were identified as Escherichia coli. Organisms ultrastructurally similar to Campylobacter spp were observed later in the disease and were only within hyperplastic epithelial cells. The hyperplastic ileal epithelium of hamsters with naturally occurring HE contained campylobacter-like organisms.