FAGOPYRISM (BUCKWHEAT POISONING). 607 



The disease has also been entitled erysipelatous or gangrenous 

 dermatitis, according to its form and gravity. 



Causation. The cause is extremely simple, viz., the consumption 

 of buckwheat and other food pertaining to a like species, such as 

 Polygomnn j^ersicaria. The green plant and the straw give the same 

 results, but the action of light and air are also necessary for the 

 production of the disease, a fact which is somewhat difficult to explain. 



According to German writers the disease occurs more frequently in 

 white sheep and lambs than in those in which the skin is of a very 

 dark colour. 



Symptoms. When the sheep are fed in folds, with the green plant in 

 summer or with the straw in winter, nothing unusual is seen, the herds 

 being, to all appearance, in perfect health. On their being set at liberty, 

 however, the first symptoms appear, perhaps in less than an hour. 

 Some animals become restless, make peculiar movements of the head, 

 ■ and soon display intense congestion of the parts free of wool, together 

 with redness and swelling of the ears, eyelids, face, throat, etc. The 

 condition develops with extreme rapidity, the animals being immediately 

 afflicted with pruritus over the affected regions. If they are not re- 

 moved to the quiet and warmth of the fold the symptoms increase 

 and papules appear, which may be transformed into vesicles and bullfe. 

 In the fold, on the other hand, all the symptoms rapidly disappear. 



The disease rarely assumes an erysipelatous form, but respiratory and 

 cerebral symptoms, together with fever and vertigo, are not exceptional. 



Treatment. The feeding on buckwheat should at once be discon- 

 tinued, and the patients should be kept in the fold until the toxic 

 principles have been eliminated, that is, for a month or more. 



Bicarbonate of soda may be added to the drinking water. The 

 local lesions about the head must be kept clean and dressed with anti- 

 septic astringent lotions. 



