134 Swine Plague. 



In the swine plague observed by Borzoni in Sardinia (see page 

 126) one form of the disease is manifested by symptoms of a general 

 febrile affection, greenish fetid diarrhea and red spots on various 

 parts of the body, as well as by a very pronounced acute edematous 

 swelling of the throat region. The other form conmiences with a marked 

 bloody serous infiltration of the subcutis on the extremities, with which 

 an inflammatory swelling of the neck becomes associated in the course 

 of a few days. The autopsy shows bloody serous infiltration of the 

 subcutaneous and intramuscular connective tissue and of the tongue, 

 and in addition to this only an acute swelling of the lymph glands and 

 a slight intestinal catarrh. 



Diagnosis. The peracute septicemic form of the disease 

 may be mistaken for acute hog cholera, from which it can be 

 distinguished only by the demonstration of the bipolar bacilli 

 in the blood. 



The recognition of the king affection in process of devel- 

 opment is quite easy but the diagnosis of its exact nature is 

 much more difficult. Verminous bronchitis is very similar in 

 its manifestations. This, however, has a much slower course 

 and attacks usually only young animals. 



The greatest difficulty is met with in differentiating swine 

 plague from hog cholera. The sporadic appearance of the dis- 

 ease or its confinement to individual premises, with s^Tiiptoms 

 pointing to an affection of the lungs, are indicative of swine 

 plague. However, if there exists a possibility of hog cholera 

 or the very frequent mixed infection its differentiation in the 

 living animal is impossible. 



On autopsy pure swine plague may be accepted ^\ith a 

 certain probability when in addition to the described changes 

 in the lungs (acute croupous-hemorrhagic or necrotic pneu- 

 monia), the hemorrhages and acute swelling of the lymph 

 glands, there are no diphtheritic or caseous inflammatory areas 

 present. The differentiation from hog cholera even in such 

 cases is absolutely established only by filtration experiments, 

 in which positive results are indicative of the presence of hog 

 cholera. On the other hand a negative finding does not estab- 

 lish the absence of hog cholera, inasmuch as the virus of the 

 latter disease may already have disappeared from the body 

 either partly or entirely. In such cases the sporadic character 

 of the disease in herds which otherwise continue to remain 

 healthy speaks for pure swine plague. The epizootic character 

 should therefore be given a weighty consideration in the estab- 

 lishment of a diagnosis. 



Less difficult appears the differentiation from catarrhal 

 pneumonia of pigs. This affection occurs only in very young 

 animals; the pneumonia has a i)urely catarrhal form, with or 

 without filirinous exudate. This applies also to those cases 

 in which the affection proves clinically and anatomically to have 

 commenced with a chronic catarrhal form of pneumonia, and 

 only later developed into an acute form. In such cases, the 



