Interpretation of findings leptospirosis

Abstract

Extract

Sir,—In his criticism of our recent paper in which we claimed to have demonstrated experimental leptospirosis in 19 of the 20 control calves, W. M. Webster claims that the evidence for infection in five of the control calves is unconvincing (“Standards in Scientific Contributions”, N.Z. vel. J., 6: 27). His main reasons for this opinion appear to be, first, because no significant agglutination-lysis titres were demonstrated in these calves and, secondly, the observed onset of leptospimria in three of them was later than nsnal. He further suggests that mistaken diagnosis of leptospirosis, due either to dark-ground examination of urine or to inadvertent infection in guinea pigs inoculated with calf kidney tissue, is a more probable explanation.