76 HOUSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



and full. The body temperature is elevated, frequently reaching 

 104 or 105 F. within thirty-six or forty-eight hours from the 

 appearance of the first symptoms. 



The visible mucous membranes, especially the conjunctivas, 

 are of a bright rosy red. In the lymphatic, cold-blooded, and more 

 common horses these symptoms of fever are less marked ; even with 

 a comparatively high temperature the animal may retain its appe- 

 tite and even work comparatively well, but these cases, if worked 

 and overheated, are apt to develop serious complications. 



At the end of from three and a half to four days the eruption 

 breaks out, the fever abates, and the general symptoms improve. 

 The eruption in severe cases may be generalized ; it may be confined 

 to the softer skin of the nose and lips, the genital organs, and the 

 inside of the thighs, or it may be localized in the neighborhood of 

 a wound or in the irritated skin of a pair of greasy heels. It con- 

 sists of a varying number of little nodes which, on a mucous mem- 

 brane, as in the nostrils or vagina, or on soft unpigmented skin, 

 appear red and feel at first like shot under the epidermis. These 

 nodes soften and show a yellowish spot in the center when they be- 

 come pustules. The epidermis is dissolved and the matter escapes 

 as a viscid fluid, at first citrine and later cloudy and purulent, which 

 dries rapidly, forming scabs; if these fall off or are removed they 

 leave a little shallow concave ulcer which heals in the course of five 

 or six days. In the softer skin if pigmented the cicatrices are white 

 and frequently remain so for about a year, when the pigment re- 

 turns. The lips or genital organs of a colored horse, if covered with 

 a number of small white spots about the size of a pea, will usually 

 indicate that the animal has been affected with the horsepox. 



At times the pustules may become confluent and produce large 

 superficial serpentine ulcers on the membrane of the nostrils, around 

 the lips or eyelids, or on the borders of wounds and in greasy heels ; 

 in this case the part becomes swollen, hot, painful, and is covered 

 with .a profuse discharge of matter. In this form there is frequently 

 a secondary fever lasting for a day or two. In severe cases there 

 may be a suppurative adenitis, or inflammation of the lymphatic 

 glands which are fed from the affected part. If the eruption is 

 around the nostrils and lips, the glands between the jaws form ab- 

 scesses as in a case of strangles ; if the eruption is in a pair of greasy 

 heels abscesses may form in the fold of the groin. There may be so 

 much tumefaction of the nostrils as to produce difficulty in 

 breathing. 



Complications. A case of horsepox may be attended with vari- 

 ous complications of varying degrees of importance. Confluent 

 eruptions irritate the part and induce the animal to rub the inflamed 

 part against the manger or scratch it in other ways, and thus pro- 

 duce troublesome ulcers, which may leave ugly scars. Irritation of 

 the mucous membrane of the nose causes severe coryza with puru- 

 lent discharge. 



The eruption may occur in the throat or in the air tubes to the 

 lungs, developing an acute laryngitis or bronchitis. If the animal 



