Livpr Rot or Fhihc. 1001 



LIVER ROT OR FLUKE. 



By A. A. Bron-n, M.B., Jt.Ch. 



Introduction. 



The disease called "Rot" in sliee]) luis been kiiowu from time 

 immemorial, and lias been the cause of extensive mortalities in flocks 

 all the world over. It is dependent upon the presence in the livers 

 of flukes in excess. Flukes are said to have been introduced into 

 this State in 1855 by German im])orted rams. In wet seasons — and 

 more particularly after a succession of wet seasons — the number of 

 sheep that perish from rot is astounding. In Victoria deaths from 

 outbreaks of rot may conmience to occur about March and persist till 

 the end of September. In comparatively dry seasons mortalities are 

 slight. In March young flukes commence to invade the liver in 

 enormous numbers, clogging the bile ducts. It has been ordained 

 by Nature that the flukes that devastate flocks should inhabit the 

 bile ducts of the liver of sheep. Flukes if present in snuill numbers 

 in the liver do no harm, but rather may be of benefit to the animal 

 they infest. They act, when few in number, as hepatic stimidants, 

 and thus they stimulate the flow of bile and lead to improvement in 

 condition of the animal. I have seen in my experience a great many 

 sheep slaughtered that had a few flukes in the livers and that were in 

 prime condition at time of slaughter. It must not, however, be 

 concluded from this that flukes are essential to the well-being of 

 sheep. It is the excess of tlie parasites that gives rise to rot, not 

 their mere presence. It is now almost certain that flukes last but 

 one season in the liver, but an animal may get re-infested from the 

 pastures over which it roams. Many animals harbor flukes in then- 

 livers— horses, cattle, pigs, goats, hares, rabbits, kangaroos, &c., aud 

 I have seen the Didoma hepaticum in the liver of a sliark. In the 

 liver of man in Egypt sojourns a fluke, the Bilharzia hacmatobia 

 Flukes frequent, with but few exceptions, all classes ol the animal 

 kino-dom (mammals, birds, fishes). The higher classes of animals 

 becmne infested through the intermediation of molluscs, worms and 

 crustaceans, and it is in the bodies of these creatures that the first 

 stages of the existence of flukes that can invade the higher animals 

 obtain their abode. 



(To he continued). 



