Symptoms. Treatment. Eczema. 845 



trembling, generalized iniiseular wealiness, dyspnea, bloating and oe- 

 casionally a febrile rise in temperature. Not infre(|uently laryngeal 

 edema may develop and may cause asphyxia. Some animals cough 

 from the connnencement and may continue to do so for weeks (Kovar- 

 zik). In hogs, Listo and Garaguso observed high^ fever, inappetence 

 and very decided muscular weakness. 



These symptoms are often severe ; in domestic animals they usually 

 disappear after a few hours or at most within a day without leaving a 

 trace, a fatal outcome occurring only very rarely, mostly from asphyxia- 

 tion. It is different in case of the anaphylaxis produced in small ex- 

 periment animals by reinjections, in which the serum disease often 

 ends with the death of the animal. In infected herds the disease may 

 become important insofar as it diminishes the resistance of the organism 

 to infectious substances for the time of its duration and may therefore 

 give rise to the activation of some latent infectious disease. 



Treatment. The treatment is similar to that employed in urti- 

 caria. The animals must be watched so that, in case of severe laryngeal 

 edema, tracheotomy may l)e done in good time. In the employment of 

 immune serums one should avoid wherever possible the use of heter- 

 ogenous serum, and if the injections are to be repeated, this should be 

 done at intervals of not more than 1 to 6 days or serums of different 

 derivation should be injected: finally it is well to inject serums of as 

 high a potency as possible so that comparatively small amounts of 

 serum will suffice. The frequency and severity of the serum disease 

 stand, other things being eciual, in direct relation to the quantity of 

 serum injected. The same serum has a stronger effect after intravenous 

 than after subcutaneous injection. 



Literature. Bartels, D. t. W., 1910, 48-5.— Detre, A. L., 1910, 85.— Kovarzik, 

 ibid., 1909, 147, 563. — P. Th. Miiller, Vorles, iiber Immun. und Infektion, Jena, 

 I909.^r-Wolff-Eisiier, Klin. Immunitatslehre und Serodiagnostik, Jena, 1910. — Zin- 

 ner, A. L., 1909, 636. 



7. Eczema. 



Eczema is an acute or, mostly, chronic inflammation of 

 the papillary bodies and of the superficial layer of the 

 corium of the skin associated with hyperemia, profuse exuda- 

 tion and itching. In the course of the inflammation, nodules, 

 vesicles and pustules develop diffusely in the inflamed and 

 swollen skin, leading to quick scaly excoriation of the integu- 

 ment and causing it to be moist and covered with crusts. 



Etiology. The most frequent causes of eczema are found 

 in external agencies acting on the skin. If the skin is neg- 

 lected the dirt lodged betw^een the hairs is balled, together with 

 desquamated particles of epidermis upon the skin and begins 

 to decay under the influence of dampness, the process being 

 aided later on by the maceration of the corium. The quite juicy 

 young epidermal cells of the Malpighian layer in this way come 

 in direct contact with the decomposing seal), and are exposed to 

 the influence of the schizomycetes present there, and also to the 

 injurious action of the products of decomposition. Eczema 



