Cytology of ?Pink-Eye" of Sheep Including A Reference to Trachoma of Man, by Employing Acridine Orange and Iodine Stains, and Isolation of Mycoplasma Agents From Infected Sheep Eyes

Abstract

Numerous forms of a pleomorphic microorganism were observed associated with the cytoplasm of epithelial cells in conjunctival smears from sheep with pink-eye when stained by the Giemsa method. The microorganism was coccobacillary in shape during the acute stage of infection, and stained purplish blue. Various peripheral forms, and dispersed, crescent-, horseshoe-, and ring-shaped figures were present in post-acute smears; all these pleomorphic forms stained blue. Peripheral forms were filaments, blebs, stalked and club-shaped figures, and ring forms. Intracytoplasmic red spherical bodies were the characteristic entity in the epithelial cells of "normal"t sheep smears. The developmental forms of the pink-eye and trachoma agents were morphologically different.