Symptoms. 



113 



The blood of horses with pneumonia shows a moderate 

 hypoleucocytosis at the onset or during the fever; it changes 

 into a hyperleucocytosis during resohition. The increase in 

 the number of white blood corpuscles is mainly due to an 

 increase in neutrophile also in acidophile cells (Sturhan, 

 Wiendieck, Meier, Franke, Gasse). The number of red blood 

 corpuscles and the amount of hemoglobin are diminished in 

 most cases of pneumonia during the course of the disease; 

 the values are, however, materially influenced by the ingestion 

 of water and feed. If water is refused for several days and 

 a loss of water of the organism occurs in consequence, the 

 number of red blood corpuscles and the amount of liemoglol)in 

 may be relatively increased, though absolutely decreased 

 (Wiendieck, Wetzi). 



Deviations from the picture of typical and mild cases of 

 pneumonia are not rare even in the absence of complications, 

 but in such cases it is not possible to 

 ascertain the cause of the atypical 

 course. In stables with many 

 horses one frequently notices that, 

 simultaneously with a number of 

 typical cases of pneumonia, a few 

 cases occur with a markedly short 

 duration. There is a sudden f el^rile 

 attack with more or less severe 

 general symptoms, but simulta- 

 neously with an improvement of 

 the general condition the tempera- 

 ture goes back to normal on the 

 second or third day (see Fig. 15). 

 The thorax presents the signs of 

 infiltration of the lungs (tym- 

 panitic, then dull sound, rales, 

 sometimes indefinite breathing 

 sounds), but they disappear after 

 one to two days (pneumonia 

 ephemera sive abortiva). 



There are, on the other hand, cases in which the inflamma- 

 tory process is confined to the deeper portions of the lungs 

 which are not accessible to our methods of external examination 

 (pneumonia centralis). These cases present for several days 

 a high, continuous fever, although there are no demonstrable 

 signs on the part of the lungs, and the patient may recover 

 from an attack which has possibly lasted over a week, physical 

 examination of the lungs having never furnished any positive 

 data. However, one may reasonably suspect the presence of 

 a croupous pneumonia from difficulties in respiration, from 

 a saffron-colored nasal discharge which may be present, and 

 from a typical fever curve. 



Fig. 15. Fever curve in croupous 

 pneumonia of short duration in the 

 horse. 



