A reliable method for the induction of experimental furunculosis

A series of experiments were carried out to assess the reproducibility of a bath challenge model to induce experimental furunculosis. The challenge method was shown to reliably induce a control mortality of 78.9 ± 3.8%. Although the method was shown to be robust, some tanks failed to achieve an acceptable control mortality. The reasons for this are unclear; however, the failure of a tank to induce a satisfactory control mortality is related to a rapid disappearance of the initial inoculum. The reason for the disappearance of the inoculum appears to be related to the presence of hydrophobic regions in the challenge tank.