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Even when poisoning is not fatal, it is very apt to produce abortion.

POISONING BY ANNUAL MERCURY.

Annual mercury given in green fodder is stated to produce


indigestion, diarrhœa, vesical and intestinal hæmorrhage, and early
death. Some authors, however, deny that it has such toxic properties.

POISONING BY BRYONY.

In large doses all parts of the bryony plant are toxic—the root,
stalk, and leaves.
Bryony is sometimes used as a purgative. Poisoning is
characterised by nausea, sweating, diuresis, frequent action of the
bowels, and, in grave cases, by tetaniform convulsions followed by
death.

POISONING BY CASTOR OIL CAKE.

Causation. Excessive use of this form of cake is the usual cause of


such poisoning, though bad quality is also an important factor. The
castor oil beans are often insufficiently crushed and compressed, so
that a considerable amount of oil is contained in the cakes as sold;
but the most dangerous constituent is undoubtedly the material
known as ricin, which, in some specimens of cake, may exist in
highly dangerous quantity.
The oil contained in the cake, like every other fatty substance,
favours intestinal peristalsis and the onward movement of the
digested food. The laxative principle excites secretion, and if the cake
be given for considerable periods, the most serious consequences
may ensue.
Cakes prepared from mixed rape seed and castor beans act in a
similar way, though in a longer or shorter time, according to their
richness in ricin.
The earliest symptom consists in purgation, which gradually
develops into super-purgation, and is followed by direct irritation of
the mucous membrane, indicated by serous, fœtid, and sometimes
sanguinolent, diarrhœa. The symptoms may appear in twenty-four
hours. They are usually accompanied by a rise in temperature of 2°
to 3° Fahr. Secretion of milk ceases, and animals heavy with young
sometimes abort. In exceptional cases death follows.
The lesions are those of hæmorrhagic enteritis.
Treatment is principally of a preventive character. The cakes
should be examined, and if they contain insufficiently crushed seeds
or beans should be discontinued or given in smaller quantities. The
proportion of ricin in mixed rape and castor cakes should be
determined.
Curative treatment consists in removing the cause and treating the
enteritis. The latter is best controlled by giving emollients, diuretics,
and mucilaginous drinks prepared from linseed, marsh-mallow,
barley, etc.

POISONING BY COTTON CAKE.

Cotton cake forms a rich food, which fattens animals very rapidly,
but given in excess may produce true poisoning, and if prepared
from undecorticated seed may produce mechanical irritation ending
in obstruction of the bowel.
The latter accident occurs only in the sheep. It consists in
obstruction of the omasum (œsophageal gutter), and particularly of
the abomasum, by the woody seed covering, the fibres of which
become agglutinated and close the pyloric opening, just as do the
fragments of wool or the hairs in animals affected with the licking
habit (pica, depraved appetite). The mass thus formed passes into
the intestine, and is apt to become fixed at some point and to cause
death.
In the ox, as in the sheep, true poisoning may result from the
action of an injurious principle which Cornevin discovered in the
seed and particularly in the meal. The relative rarity of such
accidents is explained by the composition of the cakes, which are rich
in husks but poor in meal.
In the first series of accidents the symptoms resemble those
produced by the intestinal obstructions peculiar to the licking
disease; in the second they appear about the eighth to the fifteenth
day, and are indicated by sensitiveness of the abdomen and by efforts
to pass urine. The urine is albuminous; at a later stage it becomes
darker in colour, reddish, and stained with hæmoglobin. The mucous
membranes exhibit a sub-icteric tint.
Lesions. The liver shows interstitial hepatitis, consequent on
changes in the hepatic cells due to the poisonous principle. The
kidney first shows lesions of interstitial, but afterwards of epithelial,
nephritis; the endothelium of the tubes appears to be undergoing
proliferation.
Treatment should only be undertaken when the organic lesions
seem trifling, and suggest the possibility of cure without excessive
outlay. Under such circumstances it is sufficient to remove the cause
and to supply proper diet.

POISONING BY MOLASSES REFUSE.

Molasses refuse is much used about Paris and in the department of


Le Nord for fattening or simply for feeding animals. Added to rough
fodder, even of poor quality, the refuse renders it palatable, and thus
forms an economic food; it also improves the condition of animals
with broken wind. Its poverty in nitrogenous materials (the refuse
consists of 60 per cent. of hydrocarbons; 10 to 12 per cent. of potash
and soda salts) renders it necessary to enrich it in this respect.
Moreover, only a limited quantity should be given. If given in larger
amounts than 2 to 2½ parts per 500 parts of body weight it may
produce bad effects. In this case the earlier symptoms point to
interference with the urinary apparatus, the digestive apparatus
being affected later; both accidents are due to the potash and soda
salts present in the refuse, and may become so well marked as to
constitute true poisoning.
The symptoms consist in abundant diuresis, resulting from the
excess of potash and soda salts, and are followed by albuminuria.
Superpurgation is usually present.
Lesions. On post-mortem examination one finds lesions of
irritant gastro-enteritis, and of chronic nephritis.
Treatment consists in withdrawing the molasses refuse, and
giving milk, mucilaginous fluids, barley-water, and cereals, which
soothe the kidney.

DISEASES PRODUCED BY DISTILLERY AND SUGAR FACTORY


PULP.

This disease, which is very common in France and Germany,


results from feeding on distillery and sugar factory residues,
consisting for the most part of beet pulp.
In 1860 Guionnet described it under the name of disease of the
abomasum, and more recent work by Butel, Rossignol, and Arloing
has thrown a great deal of light on its exact nature.
Causation. Guionnet attributed the injurious action of beet pulp,
etc., to excess of acidity, due to the addition of sulphuric acid during
manipulation in the factory; but it has since been shown that this
acidity, if existing, is specially due to various fermentation products,
the results of lactic, butyric, and acetic fermentation, etc.
Rossignol regarded the symptoms as wholly due to the excessive
proportion of water, viz., 90 per cent.; but this does not explain the
general symptoms of poisoning.
The real cause is to be sought in the manner of preserving the pulp
in simple earth silos or in cemented silos, where it undergoes
fermentation and putrefaction. The contained liquid is then
extremely toxic. Filtered through porcelain and injected under the
skin, it produces vaso-motor and vaso-paralytic disorder, identical
with that seen in acute forms of the disease; in other cases it excites
abnormal secretion, and leads to permanent diarrhœa and chronic
gastro-enteritis.
This liquid, if injected intravenously, may prove toxic in doses of 2
to 3 cubic centimètres per kilogram of bodily weight. Its injurious
effect is due to toxins secreted by special bacilli, which were isolated
and studied by Arloing. The toxicity diminishes as the pulp becomes
older, and can be avoided by adding antiseptics like common salt,
which prevent fermentation. These experiments of the Lyons
professor are certainly very interesting, and, although perhaps not
identical with what occurs in practice, sufficiently indicate the way in
which poisoning occurs.
Pathological disturbance only follows the use of decomposed pulp.
Animals reared on farms where distillery and sugar factory pulp is
regularly given become accustomed to it, and are rarely affected. The
chief sufferers are those recently imported, or recently placed on
such food; in them the disease may assume either the acute, nervous,
subacute, or chronic form.
Acute form: Symptoms. This form is exceptional in the ox, but
is more frequent in the sheep. In oxen the earlier symptoms point to
digestive disturbance, and consist of dulness, loss of appetite, colic,
sensibility of the abdomen, cessation of rumination (without
tympanites), and constipation. The excreta are hard, coated, and
blackish in colour, but not blood-stained.
Diarrhœa follows, is accompanied by aggravation of the general
symptoms, the temperature rises to 104° or 106° Fahr. (40° or 41°
C.), and exhaustion is pronounced. Other, less characteristic,
symptoms, such as grinding of the teeth and mastication without
food being present in the mouth may accompany the above and
arouse fears of peritonitis. In sheep the dulness and prostration
shown at first suggest the existence of anthrax—a view strengthened
by the fact that the respiration becomes very frequent and the fever
intense, whilst death may be rapid, and may sometimes occur with
startling suddenness.
Lesions. Bacteriological examination, or even a naked-eye
examination, made immediately after death enables one easily to
differentiate between the two conditions. When the animals have
died very rapidly—in one night—lesions of enteritis alone are
present. More marked cases exhibit thickening and intense
congestion of the mucous membrane of the abomasum, which may
be of a deep mahogany colour.
The intestine itself is affected, and even though the glandular
epithelium is little changed, the intercellular spaces show
ecchymoses and multiple hæmorrhages, which give the contents of
the digestive tract the appearance of wine lees.
The abdominal viscera scarcely present any characteristic lesions.
The liver has the appearance of having been boiled, as in many forms
of poisoning. The kidney is congested and blackish; the spleen only
appears hypertrophied when post-mortem examination has been
delayed and microorganisms from the intestine have invaded the
circulatory system. After death the kidneys and spleen very rapidly
undergo softening.
Nervous form: Symptoms. Whilst in the first form the
symptoms appear especially due to diastatic ferments present in the
pulp liquid, in the nervous form they appear rather to result from the
convulsing and paralysing action of ptomaines.
The ox seems more particularly susceptible to the action of the
latter. It shows symptoms resembling those of horses suffering from
a severe abdominal form of influenza: profound depression,
mahogany-coloured conjunctiva, lachrymation, infiltration of the
cornea, high temperature (104° to 106° Fahr.—41° to 41·5° C.),
strong action of the heart, but small pulse. The cerebral symptoms
are especially marked. The animal suffers from vertigo, and when
excited, or when attempts are made to administer medicine, it
thrusts its head against the wall, as though suffering from a cerebral
tumour. It also shows hyperæsthesia, slight colic, and sensitiveness
of the abdomen.
In sheep the symptoms consist in alternate extreme depression
and extreme excitability.
In both species the termination is always rapid: death occurs in a
few days.
The abdominal lesions are identical with those of the acute form.
They consist in gastro-enteritis, or, rather, intense congestion of the
abomasum and intestine, with extravasation of blood around the
acini of the glands and beneath the mucous membrane, etc., and in
more or less marked desquamation of epithelium.
The annexed organs sometimes present secondary changes: in the
nervous centres the lesions are more marked; the meninges are
congested, in some cases inflamed, and cerebro-spinal fluid is
present in increased quantity.
Subacute or Chronic form: Symptoms. This form is equally
frequent in the ox and sheep; it develops insidiously, and for a time
may escape detection.
The symptoms are those of slight gastro-enteritis without
tympanites; but this condition is succeeded by serous, fœtid,
uncontrollable diarrhœa, which weakens the animal and causes
death from excessive wasting and hydræmia.
The sensitiveness of the entire right side of the abdomen, the
special diarrhœa, the cardiac disturbance, and the widely distributed
œdema, usually suffice to prevent confusion with the ordinary forms
of gastro-enteritis. In sheep the diarrhœa is blackish, sometimes
blood-stained, and is accompanied by a sub-icteric or icteric tint of
the mucous membranes, of the skin, and of all the tissues. The
intensity of coloration affords a guide to the rapidity of development
of the disease. The urine is also bile-stained, and there appears to be
an exchange of functions between the two great depurative organs,
the liver and kidney. The urine may become sanguinolent, because it
contains either unchanged blood or simply dissolved hæmoglobin.
The lesions are similar to those previously described, but with
modifications of intensity. When diarrhœa has been marked and
persistent, the digestive mucous membrane is hardened, indurated,
and appears as though tanned. This is due to chronic inflammation,
probably to the gastro-enteritis with which the condition begins. The
liver appears as if cooked; the fat, the majority of the tissues, and
especially the conjunctiva, exhibit a light yellow tint, pointing to
hepatic disturbance.
The diagnosis is generally easy in all three forms, provided that
the food be examined.
The prognosis varies; the acute and nervous forms are usually
fatal. But when the disease develops slowly, recovery may occur.
Pathogeny. Practical observation and laboratory researches show
that the above conditions result from poisoning. Histological
examination of livers from sheep which have died rapidly shows
complete degeneration of the hepatic cells, which become incapable
of performing their function. The biliary acids, no longer being
withdrawn from the circulating blood, produce general intoxication,
destruction of the blood corpuscles, and the appearance of
hæmaphæic icterus and hæmoglobinuria.
Treatment. Being convinced that acidity alone caused this
disease, the older practitioners suggested the administration of
salines. In reality it is necessary to check fermentation. Drainage of
the silos in which beet pulp is stored is often sufficient for this
purpose; but if badly arranged, drainage rather assists the growth of
moulds and various organisms in the mass, which affords a medium
favourable to their multiplication. Complete desiccation would
undoubtedly give much better results, but cannot economically be
effected. The best practical measure consists in storing the pulp in
special silos, divided into compartments by lattice work partitions.
The escape of liquid is facilitated by forming the floors of the silo
with a sufficient slope. Preservation, however, is not perfect, and
some compartments are always found damaged. Excessive
fermentation can be checked by adding ordinary salt to the pulp in
the proportion of ·2 per cent.
Curative treatment comprises restricted diet for several days, and
the administration of milk, carbonate of soda, and stimulants, which
favour excretion of the toxins. Some patients may be saved by
subcutaneous injections of large quantities of normal salt solution.
When poisoning is pronounced, and the viscera are clearly injured, it
is more economical to slaughter the animals, provided that the
icterus does not render the flesh useless for sale.
CHAPTER VIII.
PARASITES OF THE DIGESTIVE APPARATUS.

Parasites of the digestive apparatus are extremely common in


ruminants, some, like the infusoria of the rumen, being of no
importance, others, on the contrary, appearing to play a
predominating part in the development of certain forms of anæmia
and serious wasting diseases, such as the various forms of gastro-
intestinal strongylosis, coccidial enteritis, etc.

GASTRO-INTESTINAL STRONGYLOSIS IN SHEEP.

PARASITIC GASTRO-ENTERITIS. OVINE PASTEURELLOSIS.

Verminous diseases of the abomasum are common in the sheep


and goat, but (in France at least) appear rare in the ox.
Causation. Gastro-intestinal strongylosis is produced by various
parasites of the genus Strongylus, such as Strongylus contortus,
Strongylus convolutus, Strongylus instabilis, Strongylus
circumcinctus, Strongylus filicolis, which occur not only in the
abomasum, but also in the small portions of the first intestine,
sometimes in very large numbers.
The first is a threadlike worm, pointed at both extremities, and
from ½ to 1 inch in length. It exhibits a red tint, which zoologists
refer to the presence of blood in its digestive apparatus, derived from
the host’s intestinal mucous membrane. Some doubt has been
thrown on the nature of this coloration, however; and certain Italian
authors, in common with Lignières, have declared it due to a certain
red pigment developed in the tissues of the parasite, the
spectroscopic reaction of which differs from that of hæmoglobin.
The strongyles are said not to penetrate the mucous membrane,
but simply live on the intestinal contents. This may be true of certain
varieties, but it is none the less certain that others penetrate the
mucous membrane deeply, even to the extent of becoming half-
embedded in it. Particularly is this the case with Strongylus
circumcinctus, found in the epizooty which occurred at Grignon, and
also found by Moussu in grave epizooties which he has from time to
time investigated.
According to Lignières this gastro-intestinal strongylosis only
plays a trifling part in the development of the above-mentioned
disease, which he declares to be due to infection with a cocco-bacillus
of the Pasteurella group, the development of which alone, he states,
explains all the symptoms.
In France the disease now under consideration has never extended
beyond limited regions, but in Argentina, where Lignières carried out
his investigations, it is said to be very fatal. Lignières bases his
opinion on the following facts:—
Firstly, that experimental verminous infection of young animals
does not produce either anæmia or cachexia.
Secondly, that animals in excellent condition may prove to be
infested with large numbers of parasites.
Thirdly, that animals which have succumbed to this disease,
hitherto regarded as verminous, sometimes prove to harbour few or
no parasites.
Fourthly, that this grave and fatal disease, and the symptoms by
which it is clinically recognised, can be produced with cultures of the
cocco-bacillus, which he has isolated.
These statements are very precise, but Moussu declares that he has
never yet been convinced of the reliability of the last statement
referring to experimental transmission, any more than of the data
regarding alleged protective vaccination.
The symptoms of gastro-intestinal strongylosis or ovine
pasteurellosis point to a progressive pernicious anæmia of chronic or
subacute form. Rapidly progressive cases are exceptional.
In France the form seen is almost invariably chronic. The animals
appear dull, sluggish, and feeble; they lose appetite, waste, become
anæmic, then cachectic, and, after several months, die of exhaustion
and wasting, after having shown diarrhœa during the later stages.
The fæces are pasty, and exhale a very marked putrefactive odour.
There is little room to doubt that auto-intoxication from resorption
of intestinal products is continually going on.
The animal’s general appearance is bad, the ears are pendant, the
wool is dry and dull, and can be removed in handfuls by the slightest
pull. There are no other external symptoms, and the diagnosis can
only be arrived at by discovering the eggs of the parasite in the fæces.
Lesions. Post-mortem examination reveals all the general lesions
of advanced cachexia and of gastro-enteritis of varying intensity. The
abomasum and first portions of the small intestine usually contain a
considerable number of strongyles; tæniae are often present in the
intestine, and Moussu declares that he has always found a certain
number of hooked worms and œsophagostomes.
The peritoneal, pleuritic, and pericardial exudates common in
most wasting conditions are always present, but the quantity of
exudate in each cavity varies within wide limits. The liquid may even
resemble that due to inflammation or infection; sometimes it is light
pink or red in colour.
Pulmonary lesions usually exist. Moussu has almost always found
gastric strongylosis associated with pulmonary or tracheo-bronchic
strongylosis, but Lignières asserts that the Argentine cases showed
nodules of hepatisation which had nothing to do with the pulmonary
strongylosis, and which appeared to result from areas of pneumonia
produced by the specific cocco-bacillus and other organisms. He has
even found abscesses and cavernous spaces in the lung.
Pathogeny. According to Lignières the specific agent of
pernicious anæmia is a cocco-bacillus which stains well with fuchsin,
violet, blue, safranin, etc., but does not take Gram, and which in
cultures assumes either the strepto-bacillary form or occurs in
barrel-shaped masses. It grows in simple bouillon at 38° C., but
better still in peptonised bouillon, which turns turbid for five or six
days, afterwards becoming limpid in consequence of the organisms
falling to the bottom of the vessel. It does not coagulate milk. On
agar the culture is thin, bluish, shows an iridescent reflection, and
when old appears whitish. Grown on gelatine, the appearances are
similar—the gelatine is not liquefied; on serum the pellicle is scarcely
visible.
The organism is said to be pathogenic for guinea-pigs, rabbits,
dogs, and, of course, for sheep. Moussu, however, does not consider
that the reported cases of transmission through the blood stream or
by subcutaneous injection are really convincing or characteristic. He
does not
question
the fact that
Lignières
discovered
a special
pathogenic
agent in all
cases and in
all his
patients;
but what
appears to
him
debatable is
the
exclusive
part which
Lignières
attributes
to that
agent.
Fig. 114.—Wasting due to gastro-intestinal The fact
strongylosis. that in
Argentina,
just as in France, strongyles have always been discovered in
epizootics of this nature of itself constitutes something; and causes
the second fact, that it has never yet been proved that any heavy
mortality occurred in the absence of parasitic infestation, to assume
considerable importance. Moussu regards these two facts as the
greatest obstacles to Lignières’ theory. He states that in his view the
verminous affection is the essential, primordial and primitive
affection, and that microbic infection is only secondary, and an
almost inevitable result of grave verminous infestation.
It is quite certainly wrong to think that verminous affections may
continue with scarcely any injury to the animal, especially when such
a belief is based on observation of a few parasites which are not of a
predatory character. In most cases of the kind now under
consideration, the various parasites found (Strongylus
circumcinctus and filicolis, Anchylostomes, etc.) cause more or less
grave lesions.
These intestinal wounds facilitate the infection to which the fatal
course of the disease is due. The disease, then, is not a special
unvarying infection, but consists of multiple superposed infections.
It is wrong to believe and to teach that the parasitic disease is of no
importance, and Moussu declares his belief that the proposed
vaccinations will prove unavailing. He is of opinion, on the other
hand, that when the parasitic invasion can be overcome the mortality
will be checked, and only those animals which are already suffering
from severe infections will succumb. Is not this precisely what has
been observed in human pathology regarding miners’ anæmia or
miners’ worm disease (anchylostomiasis)?
The diagnosis presents no difficulty for those who have had a
little practice with the microscope, since the presence of eggs of the
parasite can always be detected in the fæces in cases where external
signs have given rise to suspicion of gastro-entestinal strongylosis.
The macroscopic diagnosis on post-mortem examination is not so
easy as might be supposed, and when very small varieties are in
question it is sometimes necessary to examine the mucous
membrane of the abomasum or intestine very carefully in order to
discover the parasite.
The prognosis is grave, because before attention has been drawn
to many patients, the entire herd may be more or less infested. It is
also grave because the pastures are infested with eggs or embryos,
and the power of increase of these parasites is enormous.
Treatment. The earliest and most energetic means should be
adopted in all cases. Treatment comprises:—
Drainage of swampy pastures.
Dressing of the pastures with chemical manures, preferably with
iron sulphate, at the rate of 40 to 80 lbs. per acre.
Disinfection of manure to destroy the contained eggs or embryos.
The use of chalk, iron sulphate, various acids, etc.
As regards curative treatment, the diseased animals should be
grouped and isolated as far as possible, and should receive doses of
the following vermifuge:—

Powdered areca nut 2 ounces.


Arsenic 30 grains.

The above is sufficient for ten animals, and a dose should be given
daily for a period of six days in a small quantity of bran. Treatment is
completed by abundant nourishment, and by distributing about the
pastures pieces of rock-salt suitably protected.
Many other vermicides or vermifuges have been suggested, but are
less easy to use. They comprise essence of turpentine, mixtures of oil
with essence of turpentine and benzine, picrate of potash in doses of
7 to 20 grains per day, ethereal extract of male fern, etc.

LUMBRICOSIS OF CALVES.

Following the example of human medicine, we apply the term


“lumbricosis” to a disease caused by ascarides in calves, although
Neumann separates the ascarides of calves from the lumbricoid
ascarides with which they are usually confused in current practice.
Causation. The disease is exclusively due to infestation with
embryos of the parasite, which in young calves afterwards develop in
the first portions of the intestine and in the abomasum, interfering
with secretion, and producing mechanical disturbance, colic, and
digestive irregularity, eventually followed by marked loss of
condition. Death may even follow, either from rupture of the pylorus
or duodenum, or from secondary septicæmia of intestinal origin, due
to the parasites burrowing into the mucous membrane and
facilitating infection. In adults of all species lumbricosis is rare. It
occurs principally in young animals from the time of weaning up to
the age of eighteen months or two years.
The diagnosis cannot usually be formed until the parasites are
found in the fæces, but microscopic examination sometimes reveals
the presence of the eggs, and thus excites suspicion.
Provided the condition is diagnosed early, the prognosis is not
grave; but when patients have become exhausted and anæmic they
require a long time to recover, even when freed from parasites.
Treatment. Guittard recommends empyreumatic oil as very
efficacious, and gives it in doses of 2½ to 3 drachms diluted with
ordinary oil, or emulsified with any kind of mucilage.
Calomel gives good results, and maybe administered in doses of 15
to 60 grains, according to the animal’s age and size.
Powdered areca nut would probably be easier to administer with
the food. Oil of turpentine is given mixed with ordinary oil, but its
action is less certain.

STRONGYLOSIS OF THE ABOMASUM IN THE OX.

Although well studied by Stadelmann and Ostertag in Germany,


and by Stiles in America, this disease has not yet been regarded in
France as giving rise to accidents.
It is produced by the Strongylus convolutus rel Ostertagi, which
becomes embedded under the epithelium of the mucous membrane
and causes the formation of small nodules, the size of a pin’s head or
lentil, which can be detected on palpation. The cavity thus formed
beneath the epithelium communicates with the gastric cavity by a
little orifice, through which the cephalic end of the parasite passes.

PARASITIC GASTRO-ENTERITIS, DIARRHŒA, AND ANÆMIA IN


CATTLE, SHEEP AND LAMBS.

A disease characterised by anæmia with wasting and diarrhœa is


sometimes produced in cattle by the presence in the fourth stomach
of small strongyles varying in size between 3 and 9 millimètres in
length, according to the variety encountered. One variety of the
smaller size has been named by McFadyean Strongylus gracilis.
Penberthy, who described the disease in the Jour. of Comp. Path.
and Therap. for 1894, p. 249, states that in certain cases he also
found the Strongylus ventricosus, the Tricocephalus affiinis, and
minute straight worms about ²⁄₂₅ of an inch long, which he regarded
as anguillulæ. Neumann declares that pernicious anæmia with
catarrh of the abomasum in young animals is due to Strongylus
convolutus.
The symptoms comprise anæmia, wasting, and diarrhœa of
varying severity. In acute cases, which are common between the ages
of six months and two years, husk is sometimes (accidentally)
present. The disease is rarest in summer. Certain animals lose flesh
rapidly, though appetite is retained. Acute fœtid watery diarrhœa
follows. The animal shows tenesmus, appears dejected, and has a
temperature of 103° to 105° Fahr. The mucous membranes become
pale, the pulse small and weak, the appetite capricious, the eyes
sunken, belly tucked up, coat harsh and dry and hide tight. Wasting
is rapid. The animals are listless, and often lie down for long periods.
Death occurs from exhaustion.
The parasite. Scrapings from the abomasum and intestine when
diluted with water and viewed under a lens show minute bodies
resembling short, fine hairs. When isolated these are easily visible
with the naked eye. In situ they appear to be lying on the mucous
membrane, sometimes with the head fixed in the latter. They vary in
length from ³⁄₂₅ to ⁶⁄₂₅ of an inch, and are brownish in colour. For a
detailed description see Penberthy loc. cit. McFadyean (Jour. of
Comp. Path. and Therap. for 1896, p. 314) also gives a very full
description, illustrated by plates, of the two species of strongyles
which he regards as the cause of gastritis in cattle in England.
The lesions are those of wasting diseases. The first three gastric
compartments may be thin, but usually show no abnormality. The
mucous membrane of the abomasum shows evidences of catarrh, is
sometimes covered with a loose croupous material, or is denuded of
its epithelium and even extensively destroyed. In acute cases it is
more or less deeply reddened over spots or extensive patches.
Occasionally it appears jelly-like, owing to effusion into its
substance. Except for the catarrhal condition the small intestines
may be healthy, but the large, especially the colon and cæcum, show
lesions similar to, but more pronounced than, those of the
abomasum.
The treatment comprises administration of the usual
vermifuges, of which Penberthy prefers turpentine. The diet should
be nutritious and easily digestible. Among drugs, non-irritant iron
salts, cod liver oil, bitter vegetable tonics and common salt are
recomm
ended.
The
animals
should
be
housed
and kept
warm;
the
litter,
containi
ng
parasite
s,
should
be
destroye
d. The
pastures
may be
dressed
with salt Fig. 115.—Caudal extremity of male Strongylus
and cervicornis. (Block kindly lent by Prof. McFadyean.)
lime;
those
worst infected should be ploughed. An uninfected water supply is
essential.
Parasitic Gastro-enteritis in Sheep and Lambs. A disease in
seven to eight months old lambs, closely resembling the above, was
described by McFadyean in the Jour. of Comp. Path. and Therap. for
1897, p. 48. Sheep over one year old were not affected.
The symptoms comprised diarrhœa, rapid wasting, impaired
appetite, thirst, a tendency to lick and swallow sand or earth,
dulness, and continued fever (105° to 108° Fahr.). There was no
evidence of acute pain or of marked cough.
Duration. The disease sometimes proved fatal in one or two days,
but sometimes extended over several days or weeks. The mortality
varied from 10 to 20 per cent., but in many cases almost all the
members of a flock exhibited diarrhœa and loss of condition.
The cause appeared to be the presence of small nematode worms
in the fourth stomach, which generally exhibited gastritis with
inflammatory congestion of the mucous membrane, though in a
considerable number of cases the lining membrane of the stomach
was markedly anæmic. In a large number of cases the irritation of the
mucous membrane was continued into the duodenum, but as a rule
the remainder of the small intestine was not inflamed.
The worms named by McFadyean Strongylus cervicornis are from
10 to 12 mm. in length, so that although not of microscopic
dimensions they cannot be seen when suspended in the stomach
contents. They are readily detected in microscopical preparations
under a low power.
T
he
tre
at
me
nt
is
sim
ilar
to
tha
t of
gas
tro-
ent
erit
is
in
catt
le,
but
chi
Fig. 116.—Caudal extremity of male Strongylus contortus. ef
(Block kindly lent by Prof. McFadyean.) atte
nti
on should be directed to prophylaxis.

A verminous disease, closely simulating the above, and affecting


cattle, sheep, and goats in Texas, is described by Ch. Wardell Stiles in
the Annual Report of the United States Department of Agriculture
for 1900, p. 356. The disease was of mixed character, and consisted
in various degrees of verminous gastritis, verminous enteritis, and
verminous bronchitis. In the stomach were found the common
twisted wireworm (Strongylus contortus) and Ostertag’s encysted
wireworm (Strongylus Ostertagi). It appeared to be present in every
calf, steer and cow examined (post-mortem), and was undoubtedly
the chief agent in causing death. The sheep and goats were very
similarly affected. In the bowel of cattle were found the hookworm
(Uncinaria radiata), nodular disease worm (Œsophagostoma
columbianum): in that of sheep the hookworm (Uncinaria cernua)
and nodular disease worm (Œsophagostoma columbianum), and the
fringed tapeworm (Thysanosoma actinioides). In the lungs of the
cattle Strongylus micrurus (the small-tailed lungworm), and of
sheep the threadworm strongyle (Strongylus filaria) were detected.
Treatment. Sulphate of copper, gasoline and coal-tar creosote
were tried, but the best results were obtained from doses of 30 grains
(for a lamb) up to 100 grains (for a two-year-old sheep) of thymol in
1 per cent. coal-tar creosote solution.

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