The Association of Bartonella Bodies with Induced Anemia in the Dog

On feeding to splenectomized dogs a diet producing black tongue, severe anemia developed associated with the presence of small bodies in or on the erythrocytes. The bodies were morphologically similar to Bartonella muris and Bartonella canis. The addition of lean beef to the diet, a material prophylactic against its effects, was followed by improvement of the blood levels, the presence of increased numbers of reticulocytes in the circulating blood, and the disappearance of the bodies. When the blood containing Bartonella-like bodies was injected into other splenectomized dogs fed a normal or a black tongue-producing diet, anemia developed in them and the bodies appeared in large numbers. Similar injections into non-splenectomized animals fed in the same way had anemia alone as its result. Injections into normal animals fed a normal diet caused not even anemia.