106 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



chronic cases of rinderseuche or hemorrhagic-septicaemia have been 

 described by Dr. Keynolds. Clironic cases of this disease have not, 

 up to this time, been identified in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania 

 it is confined entirely, so far as is known, to cattle. In some out- 

 breaks in Europe it has been found to extend to buffalo, horses, 

 swine and deer. It appears that young- cattle are more susceptible 

 to the disease as it occurs in Pennsylvania than are mature animals. 



The cause is an oval bacterium that is found in the blood and 

 oftentimes in the spleen, liver and in the exudates of the thoracic 

 and abdominal cavities and the exudates about the throat and be- 

 neath the skin. The mode of transmission of the disease is not yet 

 established, although it is thought by some who have given this sub- 

 ject a great deal of attention, that it is conveyed through the saliva, 

 the discharge from the nose and by the blood that escapes from the 

 anus and that leaks through the skin. The organism causing this 

 disease is somewhat difficult to cultivate and it is one that rather, 

 quickly loses its virulence when grown in the laboratory upon artifi- 

 cial culture media. A large amount of investigation has been car- 

 ried on in Europe and at the laboratory of the Minnesota State 

 Board of Health, for the purpose, if possible, to discover a means of 

 protecting animals against this disease by a process of preventive 

 inoculation. Some of this work carried out in Italy encourages the 

 hope that a successful process of preventive inoculation may be de- 

 velojjed, but as yet none is available. 



More cases of the "pectoral" form of rinderseuche have been seen 

 during the past year than during any of the previous years, and 

 there has been less of the skin: or exanthema tic form. The pectoral 

 variety of this disease usually appears in Ihe form of an acute 

 pneumo-pleurisy. In these cases there is high fever, depression, 

 loss of appetite, rapid breathing, dullness in the lower part of the 

 chest, blood}' discharge from the nose, some swelling about the head 

 and throat and sometimes swelling of the legs. In most cases 

 death occurs from two to four days after the onset of the disease. 

 Some of these cases are complicated by diarrhoea and by very 

 extensive and painful swelling of the legs, especially about the 

 hocks and knee joints. Upon post mortem examination it is found 

 that there are numerous hemorrhagic areas from the size of a split 

 pea to half a dollar in the subcutaneous connective tissue. If there 

 is swelling about the throat it is found to be caused by an accumu- 

 lation of serum in the meshes of the connective tissue around the 

 pharynx and beneath the skin. The chest cavity contains a large 

 quantity of serum, usually red in color, that rises from three to 

 six or eight inches above the sternum. The surface of the pleura 

 is coated with more or less fibrin. The lungs are infiltrated with 

 serum, are red in color and sink in water. It has not been pos- 



