448 CHICKEN-POX 



place can retain its virulency for three months. In very acute cases 

 of this disease which has been observed in several European countries 

 the only pathologic changes found are hemorrhages into the serous 

 membranes; in less acute cases there is a marked edema of the 

 subcutaneous connective tissues and a collection of pale yellow fluid 

 into the serous membranes and a fibrinous exudate upon them. 

 The disease, therefore, has also been called typhus exudativus 

 gallinarum. 



CHICKEN-POX. 



Chicken-pox, epithelioma contagiosum avium, " Gefliigelpocke " 

 (German), "la petite verole" (French), is a chronic contagious disease 

 of fowl, characterized by the formation of epithelial nodules on the 

 comb and neck and on the mucous membranes of the head. It is 

 caused by a filterable virus. The latter can be obtained by grinding 

 up the epithelial proliferations, mixing the mass with some sterile 

 physiologic salt solution, and filtering the mixture through porcelain 

 or clay filters. The disease, after natural infection, begins with the 

 formation of grayish-red, shiny patches in the places indicated. 

 The small, slightly elevated patches soon increase in size, become 

 more elevated and grayish yellow in color. They finally form nodules 

 of the size of a pea or larger, dry and warty in character, and con- 

 taining in their interior a yellowish fatty mass. The wart-like masses 

 sometimes become confluent and cover entirely larger areas of skin 

 or mucosa. The disease generally ends in recovery by drying up 

 and shedding of the epithelial proliferations. If, on the other hand, 

 the affected animals die it is found that the process has extended 

 from the mouth toward the larynx and in it and the bronchi a muco- 

 purulent exudate and caseous lumps are found. The lungs contain 

 bronchopneumonic inflammatory foci. The intestinal mucosa is 

 inflamed and studded with small hemorrhages. The histologic 

 changes of the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth consist 

 in a hypertrophy of the epithelial covering, a proliferation of the 

 interpapillary pegs with congestion of vessels and inflammatory cell 

 infiltration in the derma. 



Bollinger and Coskor claim that epithelioma contagiosum of man 

 and of fowl is identical and that it can be experimentally transferred 

 from the former to the latter. The disease described and cotnmonly 

 known as chicken-pox in fowls has, of course, nothing in common 

 with the disease known as chicken-pox in man, the latter being one 

 of the febrile exanthematous contagious diseases, characterized by a 

 vesicular eruption over the entire body. 



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