CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



829 



Treatment is of no avail, further than to afford a suitably generous 

 diet, but it is best to deal with these as prescribed for tuberculosis. 



IX. Lumpy Jaw (Actinomycosis). 



This is an infectious disease affecting cattle very commonly in the 

 ■Western States of this country, especially Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and 

 Nebraska. Its spread is gradual and continuous. If an affected ar^mal is 

 taken into a herd of healthy cattle, it will surely break out among them, 

 and from five to fifty per cent, will get it in the course of six to twelve 

 months. The cause lies in the presence of a ray shaped fungus germ called 

 actinomyces, hence the name actinomycocis, by which scientific term the 

 disease is known. This germ is taken in with the food in most cases, and 

 may locate in any part of the body. The parts most often affected are the 

 jaw bones, tongue, glands around the head and throat, lungs, liver and in 

 the walls of the small iiittstines. The oerm enters the jaw bone through 



ACTINOMYCOSIS OF THE 



_ LOWER JAW. 



LUMP JAW. 



a si)lit or decayed tooth, or an abrasion of the gum, then it grows, increases 

 in numbers rapidly, and invades and destroys the bone in every direction. 

 It enters the tongue and glands about the throat and various parts of the 

 digestive tract and liver through abrasions of the mucous membrane or 

 through ducts. It enters the lungs probably by being inhaled with dust. 

 When it has become located in any part of the body in one of these ways, 

 small portions or sprouts, as it were, may be carried to and infect any 

 other part of the body through the blood. This disease also occasionally 

 affects hogs, horses, rabbits, elephants and people; the latter rather fre- 

 quently and always seriously, proving fatal in most cases in the course of 

 six weeks to eighteen months. It runs a mild course in cattle, not causing 

 death except as a result of interference with mastication or swallowing, 

 then they become emaciated and weak and die from want of nutrition. 



How to know it. — In all cases tumors form at the seat of infection. 

 When the jaw bones are affected they swell, sometimes to an enormous 

 size, the teeth get loose, the tumor softens in one or more places, bursts 



