558 Cysticercosis of the Liver. 



in a few days or the animals may live for some weeks until 

 there is marked anemia and debility. 



Chronic Cysticercosis. This is the form of the disease 

 usually seen in the rabbit, but it occurs also in other species of 

 animals. The symptoms are chronic digestive disorders which 

 cause some loss of condition. 



Diagnosis. The specific nature of the disease is best shown 

 by the demonstration of young cysticerci in liquid withdrawn 

 from the peritoneum. As a rule a diagnosis is only possible post 

 mortem, although a strong suspicion as to the nature of the 

 disease may be raised if there are a number of young animals 

 showing the symptoms described, and especially if the sur- 

 rounding circumstances are favorable to infection. In very 

 recent cases or when there are no burrows in the liver, tissue 

 diagnosis may be attended wdth difficulty even at the autopsy, 

 especially if no microscopic examinations are made. In such 

 cases other forms of acute hepatitis and other infectious dis- 

 eases (swine erysipelas, hemorrhagic septicemia) have to be 

 excluded. Acute distomatosis is more easy to diagnose be- 

 cause of the presence of young distomes which measure at 

 least one to three mm., either in the burrows in the liver tissue 

 or in the peritoneum. 



Prognosis. Prognosis depends entirely upon the severity of 

 the infestation, but in acute cases it is unfavorable. Averadere 

 records a mortality of 38 per cent in an outbreak among lambs. 

 Chronic cases are fatal far more rarely, especially in adult 

 animals, and as a rule there are no sjanptoms in these cases. 



Treatment and Prophylaxis. Treatment must depend upon 

 the nature of the case. As a prophylactic measure all dogs in 

 the neighborhood of the animals and especially sheep dogs, 

 should undergo a course of treatment for tapew^orms two or 

 three times a year or, if possible, should be kept quite away 

 from the animals. 



Literature. Averadere, Rev. Vet., 1898, .3.3.3.— Brusaferro, Clin. Vet., 1893, 

 214.— Diirbeck, Moiih., 1899, X, 32 (Lit.).— Engel, W. f. Tk., 1878, 165.— Falk, 

 Z. f. Flhyg., 1898, VITI, 93.— Hoefnagel & Eeeser, D. t. W., 190.5, 444 (Rev.).— 

 Hofmann, B. t. W., 1901, 537.— Kleinpaul, B. t. W., 1907, 131.— Moussu, Eec, 

 1902, 657.— Neumann, Mai. parasitaires, 1892, 484.— Piitz, Z. f. pr. Vet.-Wiss., 1876, 

 169.— Railliet, Zool. mecL, 1895, 229.— Seller, A. f. Tk., 1903, XXX, 339 (Lit.); 

 D. t. W., 1907, 436. 



Other Animal Parasites Found in the Liver. The following para- 

 sites are sometimes clinically important as occurring in the liver: 



1. The larvae of sclerostomes. These reach the liver by way of 

 the portal blood and make burrows in the liver tissue in a similar man- 

 ner to cysticerci (Colucci, Megnin, Schlegel). Schlegel repeatedly saw 

 cases of chronic hepatitis which clinically resembled Schweinsberg 

 disease, (see page 530), in which the liver was enlarged two to three 



