708 INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 



b}' the foetid character of the fteces, and by moderate but contmued 

 fever. Chronic diarrhcea, which alone presents some analog}^ with 

 this condition, is never accompanied by permanent tympanites. 



Tuberculosis of the genital organs in male animals is always 

 liable to be mistaken for simple orchitis and the development of 

 tumours in the testicle ; an injection of tuberculin will, however, in- 

 dicate the nature of the lesion. 



When the symptoms of genital disease or chronic mammitis in 

 female animals suggest that the disease is of a specific character, 

 the diagnosis can frequently be confirmed by a microscopical exami- 

 nation of the pus or milk. 



Finally, should the practitioner hesitate as to the nature of the 

 lesions which are the cause of arthritis, deformity of bones, cere- 

 bral symptoms, etc., tuberculin again will in most cases settle the 

 question. 



The prognosis in cases of tuberculosis is extremely unfavourable, 

 whatever the form of the disease or its manifestations. Clinically 

 the disease should be regarded as incurable in the strict sense of 

 the word, however limited may be the lesions. The afiected animals 

 are not all doomed to immediate death : some may be kept alive, and 

 may even serve an economic purpose without necessarily endangering 

 others ; it is sometimes possible to fatten them, though the risks 

 probably far outweigh the advantages, but one can never rely on 

 recovery in any particular case. 



The gravity of this disease is the greater inasmuch as it assumes 

 so many forms, any one of which may result in the infection of 

 other animals. 



All those forms of the disease, such as tuberculosis of the respira- 

 tory, digestive and genital tracts, in which virulent material con- 

 taining bacilli is discharged realise these conditions. The patient 

 becomes a source of infection to others of its kind, a fact which 

 more than anything else renders the disease so dangerous to the 

 farmer and breeder. 



Only in cases where the lesions are closed (as in tuberculosis of 

 the lymphatic glands, serous membranes, joints, etc.) can the sufferers 

 be regarded as innocuous, and — as these lesions are exceptional or 

 at least, as animals suffering from them are very frequently afflicted 

 with open lesions from which bacilli are continually being dis- 

 charged — every tuberculous animal must be regarded from a clinical 

 standpoint as a constant danger to its neighbours. 



This, however, must not be understood to mean that there are 

 not different degrees of danger. It is quite certain that a patient 

 with pulmonary caverns which are constantly throwing off" enormous 



