Studies of the Chick Edema Disease

IN EARLY attempts to chemically identify the chick edema disease factor, a number of investigators (Brew et al., 1959; Wootton and Alexander, 1959; Friedman et al., 1959; Harman et al., 1960; and Yartzoff et al., 1961) reported that the factor was heavily chlorinated. More recent reports (Friedman, 1962; Wootton et al., 1962; Firestone et al., 1963; and Wootton and Courchene, 1964) have confirmed and extended the early studies and have shown that the factor is quite toxic for the chick. In the latter report, Wootton and Courchene (1964) “estimated that 5μg. of one of the toxic factors is enough to kill one chick.” McCune et al. (1962) reported that a chlorinated hydrocarbon used as a plasticizer for an epoxy-resin cage coating material elicited symptoms similar to those found when chicks were fed the chick edema factor or fats containing the factor. Using Vantress-White Rock chicks, these workers reported that…