324 Manual of Veterinary Microbiology. 



Epizootic abortion. 



Epizootic abortion is a contagious disease most fre- 

 quently seen in the cow but also noticed in the ewe, 

 she-goat, and even in the mare. The abortion occurs 

 at all periods of gestation after the third month ; in 

 the same animal it occurs at a later stage in each suc- 

 ceeding year and at length allows the foetus to be 

 carried till term, if, indeed, the cow, after a first 

 abortion, has not become sterile. The calf is most 

 frequently still-born ; iii some cases it is born alive but 

 its health is precarious; shortly after birth it emits a 

 peculiar lowing; after the third day it is attacked 

 with diarrhoea and death quickly follows. 



According to ISTocard the disease takes its origin in 

 diverse germs met with in the uterus of the animals 

 which abort, germs which are never found in healthy 



to die from the same disease {Neh. Agric. Exper. Station, Bulletins 7, 

 8, 9, 10). 



Nocard studied an "infectious broncho-pneumonia" which was 

 observed in a number of recently imported American cattle (from 

 Virginia, Indiana and Illinois). The lesions in the lung some- 

 what resembled those of contagious pleuro-pneumonia. The 

 muco-pus of the bronchi, the hepatized lung tissue, and the 

 serosity contained a short, ovoid, motile bacterium, apparently in 

 pure culture. It measured barely Ifi in length by 0"3,u to 0'4,u in 

 thickness, stained with aqueous solutions of fuchsin and methy- 

 lene blue, leaving a clear unstained central space ; not stained by 

 the methods of Gram or Weigert. The germ was found to be 

 pathogenic for the mouse, rabbit, guinea pig and pigeon, which 

 die from subcutaneous inoculation ; inoculated in the lung of 

 calves and sheep it occasions a fatally-ending exudative broncho- 

 pneumonia. Nocard believes this disease to be identical with 

 the " corn fodder disease " of Billings. {Recueil de Med. Vet. Aug., 

 1891.— D.] 



