CHAPTEE XXXVIII. 



HIGHER HYPHOMYCETES AS THE CAUSE OF DISEASE LEECHES, 



OR BURSATTEE PNEUMONOM YCOSIS DERMATOMYCOSIS 



TRICHOPHYTON TONSURANS ACHORION SCHONLEINII 



FUSARIUM EQUINORUM OIDIUM ALBICANS. 



IN the preceding two chapters the diseases due to trichomycetes, 

 including streptothrix and actinomyces infections, have been con- 

 sidered. These organisms belong to the lower hyphomycetes, but 

 the higher hyphomycetes are likewise the cause of some animal 

 diseases. 



LEECHES, OR BURSATTEE. 



Under the name of leeches, bursattee, summer sore, hyphomykosis 

 destruens equi,"Bosartige Schimmel-Krankheit der Pferde" (German), 

 a disease of horses apparently due to hyphomycetes has been described. 

 Whether the disease found in India and other parts of Asia is absolutely 

 identical with the similar affection reported in the United States is a 

 question not fully settled. The name bursattee is derived from the 

 Indian word burus, rain, because it was believed that some causal 

 relation existed between the disease and the rainy season in India. 

 The disease in India has been described by F. Smith and Steel and 

 in the Sunda Islands by DeHaan and Hoogkamer. The pathologic 

 lesions there noticed consist in very firm nodules below the skin, 

 particularly in the lips, the alse of the nose, the eyelids, but also on 

 the body and the extremities and in the mucosa of the mouth and 

 nasal cavities. The nodules in the mucosa later change into open 

 ulcers covered by an easily bleeding granulation tissue surrounded 

 by ragged, uneven margins. The ulcers burrow deep down in the 

 tissue, invade the bone, sometimes perforate it, and form fistulous 

 tracts. In the latter and in the granulation tissue grayish-yellow 

 masses or plugs are found, firmly adherent to the surrounding tissue 

 and sometimes calcified. In these masses the mycelia and spores of 

 a mould are found, which was obtained by DeHaan in pure culture. 

 Inoculation experiments, however, failed to reproduce the disease. 

 As it occurs in the United States the disease was first more fully 

 described by Neal, of Florida, who noticed it in equines and also in 

 cattle which had spent much time in ponds and swamps. Dawson, of 

 Florida, has stated that leeches, or bursattee, in Florida is a common 

 disease characterized by the formation of tumor-like masses with 



