CHAPTER XXVI. 



SWINE MEASLES. DISTEMPER IN DOGS. EPIDEMIC DISEASE OF 

 FERRETS. EPIDEMIC DISEASE OF MICE. 



SWINE MEASLES. 



SUINE MEASLES, or swine erysipelas, is described as an acute, in- 

 fectious disease of swine which is very prevalent in France and 

 Germany, but is included in this country in the term " swine fever." 

 According to some, it is a distinct disease, and distinguished from i>iV 

 typhoid by absence of the ulceration of the intestines which i 

 characteristic of that disease ; while, according to others, ulceration 

 of the intestine and ileo-ccecal valve may be found post-mortem. The 

 onset of the symptoms, as in pig typhoid, is very rapid ; the anim.-iN 

 cease to feed, and show other general signs of illness ; the voice is 

 hoarse, and there is a rapid rise of temperature. On the neck, 

 chest, and abdomen, red patches make their appearance, which 

 extend and coalesce, and change to a dark reddish or brownish colour. 

 These symptoms may be followed by convulsions, and sometimes by 

 paralysis of the hind legs; and death occurs in from one to four 

 days. It is especially a disease of young pigs, and from 50 t< 

 per cent, of infected animals die. 



On post-mortem examination there is haemorrhage and n-di-ma 

 in the patches of the skin, the lymphatic glanl> are >wll*-ii and 

 dark red, the peritoneum is ecchymosed, the intestinal mumus 

 membrane is congested and swollen, and the solitary follicles and 

 Peyer's patches are prominent, and in the neigh bourhood of the il<-.> 

 ccecal valve there are, according to Fliigge, ulcers of con.-idfiahl.- >i/.-. 

 The liver and spleen are congested and enlarged. Pasteur in 

 gated swine measles or rouyet, and described a figure-of-eight micn.- 

 coccus, which he believed to be the contagium of thi> di-e. 

 organism appears to be identical with the hacu-riuni "t hsi-n 

 septicaemia, which is also commonly found in pig-typhoid 



In experimenting with the- virus obtained fnun the sple.-n 



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