[Bacteriological and pathohistological studies of sheep experimentally infected with Listeria].

A total of forty gimmers (eight of which spleen-ectomized) were i/v, orally, intratracheally, and along the branching of n. infraorbitalis infected with a 24-hour broth culture of Listeria monocytogenes. The meningoencephalite form of listeriosis was induced in two of the animals infected intraveneously, in one animal of those infected orally, and in one of those infected in the branching of nervus infraorbitalis. The most typical microscopic changes were established in the case of infection through the veins and the nerves. It was concluded that these were probably the most often occurring ways of infection and dissemination of Listeria. However, the resistance of the host organism, the number of bacteria, and the virulence were also of interest. Toxic injury of the brain and the viscera of all infected sheep were also found.