308 Agricultural Bacteriology. 



<Dows which gave the usual amount of milk in the morn- 

 ing, may give none at night, and be found dead by the 

 next morning. The symptoms are often quite similar to 

 those of milk fever. The animal is weak, staggers in 

 walking, and the extremities are cold. The duration of 

 the disease is, as indicated, short. Recovery is rare. 



Post-mortem examination. On post-mortem exami- 

 nation red spots from the size of the head of a pin to sev- 

 eral inches in diameter are found beneath the skin. 

 Hemorrhagic areas are also found on the heart, stomach, 

 and intestines. The blood is red and coagulates in a 

 normal manner. The spleen is also normal. The disease 

 is often confused with anthrax on account of the sudden 

 death of the animals. It is, however, very important 

 that a correct diagnosis be made, for the methods of 

 treatment and prevention are different. The enlarged 

 spleen and the dark colored blood in anthrax serve, us- 

 ually, to differentiate that disease from hemorrhagic sep- 

 ticemia, while such tumors as are found in black leg do 

 not occur in this disease. Some times it is difficult to 

 tell which disease is present from an examination of the 

 carcass. Recourse must then be had to bacteriological 

 examination of the blood, a sample of which should be 

 sent to the state authorities having charge of the live 

 stock interests. No treatment is of any value, no vaccine 

 can be used nor an antitoxin as in the case of tetanus. 



In order to prevent the spread of the disease, in the 

 herd, it is necessary to isolate each animal from every 

 other animal of the herd. This can be done by staking 

 the animals out. They should be removed from the in- 

 fected pasture to a fresh one or to a meadow and tied 

 with ropes. 



The carcasses should be burned or buried deeply and 



