18 Anthrax. 



septicemia. The presence of gloss anthrax can only be accepted as prob- 

 able when the tongue is greatly swollen, cyanotically discolored, or 

 when the buccal mucous membrane contains hard nodules and cysts 

 filled with bloody fluid. 



In hogs anthrax usually runs its course with manifestations 

 of febrile pharyngitis with marked sw^elling of the subparotidal 

 and laryngeal regions. The swelling may extend from the neck 

 to the head and cause considerable difficulty in deglutition and 

 respiration. At the same time the mucous membranes are 

 cyanotic, bluish-red spots develop on the skin, diarrhea sets 

 in, and the difficulty in respiration and sw^allowing reach such 

 a state that the animals finally die from asphyxiation. In 

 experimental cases cysts filled with bloody fluid develop on the 

 mucous membrane of the tongue, cheeks and lips. 



In those cases w^here there is no sw^elling of the neck the 

 symptoms observed are only debility, suppressed appetite and 

 hiding under the straw^ 



In dogs and in other carnivorous animals the disease is 

 of rare occurrence and is usually manifested by severe gastro- 

 enteritis as well as pharyngitis. Sometimes after eating an- 

 thrax blood an inflammation develops on the lips and tongue, 

 or general infection may follow^ the development of a car- 

 bunculous ulcer upon the toe pads. 



Course. The development of the disease and the succes- 

 sively appearing symptoms as well as the general picture of 

 the affection show great variations from case to case. While 

 sometimes only half an hour passes from the onset of the dis- 

 ease until death, in other cases the duration extends to two 

 and more, exceptionally to 7 days. In slow cases the intensity 

 of the symptoms may decrease temporarily so that the patients 

 are somew^hat brighter, and take some food, but the improve- 

 ment is followed after a shorter or longer period by new^ at- 

 tacks, and the disease may even assume an intermittent charac- 

 ter (anthrax intermittens) in which the animal becomes greatly 

 emaciated under periodical febrile symptoms. 



The species of the animal affected, influences considerably 

 the manifestation of the clinical picture. Anthrax in horses 

 is usually marked by symptoms of a severe spasmodic colic 

 in which quite frequently edematous sw^ellings develop on the 

 neck and chest. In cattle only symptoms of a general febrile 

 affection are usually observed, but hemorrhages from the in- 

 testines as well as edematous swellings are not very rare. 

 Anthrax in sheep usually runs a rapid course without localiza- 

 tion to certain regions, acting like a pure septicemia, and the 

 apoplectic form occurs most frequently in these animals. An- 

 thrax in goats is less acute. Hogs usually die in 1 to 2 days 

 with symptoms of asphyxiation due to the extension of pharyn- 

 gitis. 



