574 Peritonitis. 



Pleurisy very rarely sets up peritonitis bj" extension. 



In the group of acute infective diseases known as the hem- 

 orrhagic septicemias, peritonitis is comparatively common, but 

 in the specific septicemic diseases, such as anthrax, swine ery- 

 sipelas, etc., diffuse peritonitis is rarely met with. 



Finally, peritonitis may be caused by bacteria carried by 

 the blood stream from lesions in peripheral parts of the body. 



Peritonitis associated with gastritis or septicemia has often been observed 

 in sheep and cattle that have been fed on bad turnips. 



In Upper Italy, Boccalari saw cases of rapidly fatal sero-fibrinous peritonitis 

 in calves from 2 to 4 mouths old. Organisms resembling FrJinkel 's diplococcus 

 were found in the exudate. The organism was fatal to mice and rabbits in 24 

 hours. Material taken from experimental animals was non-pathogenic for calves 

 but the exudate from diseased calves was proved to be pathogenic. 



In birds hyphomycetes (Aspergillus fumigatus) is some- 

 times responsible for peritonitis. Lignieres & Petit observed 

 an epizootic peritonitis of this nature in turkeys. Gougerot & 

 Caraven saw two cases of peritonitis in young dogs due to the 

 Sporotrichum Beurmanni. 



In very rare cases microorganisms cause peritonitis with- 

 out there being any injury to the abdominal wall or disease of 

 any sort in the animal at all (primary peritonitis). 



Among the predisposing causes of primary, and in some 

 cases of secondary, peritonitis may be mentioned cold (rheu- 

 matic peritonitis), debility, violent blows on the abdominal 

 wall with blunt objects, etc. 



Chemical substances, such as bacterial toxins and materials 

 retained in the blood as a result of nephritis, are very rarely 

 responsible in themselves for peritonitis. Sterile bile, urine 

 and other liquids do not cause the disease. Occasionally animal 

 parasites are responsible for peritonitis, this having been ob- 

 served in carnivora by Baillet, Railliet, Lal)at and Cadeac. 

 Very occasionally cases have occurred in cattle and pigs as a 

 result of a severe invasion of Cysticercus tenuicollis or the 

 liver fluke. 



Chronic peritonitis is generally due to chronic or repeated 

 attacks of sub-acute inflammation in neighboring organs, 

 whereas external or internal injuries, as a rule, set up a local- 

 ized peritonitis wdiicli results in adhesions of the peritoneal sur- 

 faces. Chronic peritonitis is seen in tuberculosis, glanders and 

 accompanying carcinoma, sarcoma and other neoplasms of the 

 serous membrane. It may also occur in animals that are in a 

 debilitated condition and as a result of ascites. The frequently 

 occurring cases in horses associated with the formation of false 

 membranes are due to an antecedent invasion by larval scle- 

 rostomes (Glage. See page 490). 



Fuchs observed peritonitis with adhesions in the neighborhood of the stomach 

 of cattle that had been fed on turnips stored in trenches, and believed that a 

 pathogenic mould grew in the fermenting roots which produced gastritis and sub- 

 sequent peritonitis. 



