Eight compounds were tested in vitro for virucidal and antiviral activity against poliovirus and vaccinia virus. These compounds included five quaternary ammonium salts, two bromosalicylanilides, and neomycin sulfate, an antibiotic. None of the compounds was active against poliovirus, but virucidal activity was demonstrated against vaccinia virus with three of the quarternary ammonium compounds: n-alkyl (C14, C12, C16) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, di-isobutyl cresoxy ethoxy ethyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride monohydrate, and n-alkyl (60% C14, 30% C16, 5% C12, 5% C18) dimethyl benzyl ammonium chlorides plus n-alkyl (50% C12, 30% C14, 17% C16, 3% C18) dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chlorides. Wool blanketing, wool gabardine, and cotton sheeting materials were impregnated with the first of the above virucidal compounds, and the persistence of vaccinia virus or antimicrobial finishes were used in any of the above fabrics.

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Although avian spirochetosis has been endemic in many parts of the world for several decades, it has only recently been positively identified in North America (Hoffman, Jackson, and Rucker, 1946; Hoffman and Jackson, 1946). Ward and Gallagher (1920) and Kaupp (1922) stated that some workers have suspected its presence in the United States, but no positive diagnoses wN-ere made. Burroughs (1947) reported the first finding of this spirochete in ticks in the United States w^hen he discovered that specimens of Argas persicus sent to him from Texas wvere infected. The disease is caused by Borrelia anserina (Spirochaeta anserina), which was first described from geese in the Caucasus by Sakharoff in 1891. Marchoux and Salimbeni (1903) in Brazil were the first to report a natural outbreak in fowls and also to incriminate Argas persicus as the arthropod vector. Since then it has been reported as a major cause of mortality in fowl in many parts of the wi-orld. Recent reviews of the literature are given by Knowles, Das Gupta, and Basu (1932), Reis and Nobrega (1936), Sreenivasan and Sankaranarayan (1945), and El-Dardiry (1945). Knowles, Das Gupta, and Basu (1932) give an excellent review\ of 180 papers covering the period of 1891-1931. Stavitsky (1948) gives a good general discussion of the three genera of pathogenic spirochetes. Since the disease has only recently been reported in this country, and since there are only casual references in the literature to its natural occurrence in turkeys previous to the accounts of Hoffman et al. (1946), it seemed advisable to conduct experiments with this strain in turkeys. This paper reports the results of these experiments as wN-ell as a historical discussion of the disease and studies on a second field outbreak in turkeys. DESCRIPTION OF THE ORGANISM Sakharoff (1891) first described the organism from the blood of geese suffering from a severe febrile disease in the Caucasus. His original description includes a photomicrograph wrhich shows about six spirals, but does not give measurements of length. Reports in the literature of the length have varied from 6 to 30 A, and there is wide variation in the same bird, due to division stages. Hinshawv and McNeil (1946) reported an average of 14,u (7 to 21,) with six spirals (figuire 1). The organism is motile, stains readily with aniline dyes (in contrast to Leptospira and Treponema), and is soluble in 10 per cent ox bile and 10 per cent saponin. At crisis the spirochetes are in large clumps and are often granu-1 Aided inl part by a research grant froiim The National Turkey Foundation.

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SIDWELL, ROBERT W. (Southern Research Institute, Birmingham, Ala.), GLEN J. DIXON, AND ETHEL MCNEIL. Quantitative studies on fabrics as disseminators of viruses. I. Persistence of vaccinia virus on cotton and wool fabrics. Appl. Microbiol. 14:55-59. 1966.-The persistence of vaccinia virus on wool (blanket and gabardine) and cotton (sheeting, terry cloth, and knit jersey) fabrics was studied. The fabrics were exposed to the virus by three methods: direct contact, aerosol, and virus-containing dust having a high content of textile fibers. Fabrics exposed to virus by each method were held in 35 and 78 % relative humidities at 25 C .Virus was recovered for up to 14 weeks from wool fabrics exposed to virus and held in the low humidity. In contrast, virus persisted for shorter periods of time on the cotton fabrics. No virus was detected on terry cloth as early as 3 days after exposure to virus. The virus appeared to be less stable in the high humidity, and the method of exposure of the fabrics to virus apparently had an effect upon the persistence of the agent. On all fabrics, viral persistence was of sufficient duration to be of epidemiological significance.

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In a previous paper the writers (1946) reported the isolation of Salmonella montevideo from a gila monster, and Salmonella manhattan from an iguana. In this paper we wish to record the isolation of SalmoneUa rubislaw and two sucrosefermenting paracolons that possess Salmonella antigenic components from apparently healthy Pacific fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis-occidentalis). SalmoneUa rubislaw. A total of 12 of these small lizards were caught within a radius of a quarter of a mile on the University campus at Davis. All were killed for autopsy, dissected aseptically, and their tissues seeded into tetrathionate broth (Difco plus 1:50,000 brilliant green). Subsequent bacteriological examination resulted in the isolation of S. rubislat from three of them. One of these three lizards was found in the stomach of a gopher snake, and the other two were caught together 4 months later about a quarter of a mile away. The snake

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