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Abstract
Extract Sir, — The Australian possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) is susceptible to Mycobacterium bovis infection (Bolliger and Bolliger, 1948 Bolliger, A. and Bolliger, W. 1948. Experimental tranmission of tuberculosis to T. vulpecula. Aust. J. Sci., 10: 182–183. [Google Scholar] ) and is thought to be a factor in the persistence of bovine tuberculosis in certain areas of New Zealand (Ekdahl et al., 1970 Bolliger, A. and Bolliger, W. 1948. Experimental tranmission of tuberculosis to T. vulpecula. Aust. J. Sci., 10: 182–183. [Google Scholar] ). Anaesthetic studies were conducted prior to experimental studies of tuberculosis in captive animals. During these studies we found that several opossums captured on four farms in the Wanganui district had leptospiruria and serum titres to Leptospira hardjo (> 1: 200). A further 20 opossums were obtained from the same source.