Effect of repeated injections of iron dextran on the haematological, serological and pathological changes in experimental avian tuberculosis.

Eight intramuscular injections of 200 mg/kg of iron (DFe), given as iron dextran twice weekly in the week before and the three weeks after intravenous infection with about 10(7.5) colony-forming units of Mycobacterium avium, significantly prolonged (by about 11 days) the mean 'time-to-death' of immature male fowl (Gallus domesticus) compared with corresponding regimes using dextran (Dx) only or saline, When a proportion of the birds were examined 21 days after infection many of the abnormalities associated with the disease, including a marked hypochromic anaemia, were less severe in DFe-treated than in the Dx- or saline-treated chicks and there were about 10- to 85-fold fewer viable tubercle bacilli in the liver and spleen of the DFe-treated birds.