Sycosis, Contagious Pustular Inflammation of the Skin. 893 



to the chest, the wool fell out in this regiou, aud closely placed openings formed 

 upon the gray-blue skin which were almost circular, pea-sized, with yellowish, 

 brittle, plug-like contents aud a bad odor. Washing with creolin water, inunctions 

 with creolin tar ointment and deep splitting as well as curetting of the dead parts 

 caused recovery with only one death (Teetz, B. t. W., 1905, 791). 



Zschokke saw a number of nut-sized, ])luish red furuncles on the back of a 

 pig affected with cuticular anthrax. 



By this is understood an inflammation of the follicles 

 of the long hair, wherehy nodules or pustules form which, are of variable 

 size ; from their center a hair shaft protrudes. The causes are mostly 

 the same as in acne. The disease has hitherto been noted on the parts 

 of the skin covered with long hair, in horses as well as in dogs, and re- 

 quires treatment similar to that of an acne rash. 



15. Contagious Pustular Inflammation of the Skin. 

 Dermatitis Pustulosa Contag-iosa. 



(Socalled English or Canadian [American] horsepox; Der- 

 matitis pustulosa canadensis [Axe], Acne 

 contagiosa [Dieckerhoff].) 



Contagious pustular dermatitis is a skin disease peculiar 

 to the horse, in the course of which pustules arise on the swollen 

 skin which appear chiefly at those places which come in contact 

 with the harness and which may be as large as lentils. The 

 pustules are caused by the acne bacillus of Dieckerhoff & 

 Grawitz, which in its turn belongs to the group of the 1)ac. 

 pseudotuberculosis of Preisz. 



History. The disease was first described l)y Goux (1841) and at 

 the same time was recognized as a contagious disease. Bassi saw it in 

 the year 1876 in Italy, in English and American horses. Axe in the year 

 1879 in England; by this author it was called dermatitis pustulosa 

 canadensis, since in his opinion the affection was brought to England by 

 Canadian horses. Since then the disease has been observed frequently 

 in Europe and its etiology has recently been investigated. Thus Schin- 

 delka considers that it is identical with the impetigo contagiosa of man 

 and he found micrococci in the pus as causes of the inflammation; 

 Siedamgrotzky succeeded in transmitting it to rabbits and guinea pigs 

 by inoculation. By bacteriological and inoculation experiments Grawitz 

 & Dieckerhoff proved a bacillus to be the cause of the disease, the classi- 

 fication of which was more exactly established by Nocard. 



Occurrence. The disease occurs as an enzootic, especially 

 in horses of the English breed. 



Etiology. The fission fungus described by Grawitz & 

 Dieckerhoff as the acne bacillus is about tw^o microns long; it 

 multiplies by division, forming coccus-like chains which remain 

 connected with each other for a time in 2 to 4-linked series. 

 The bacilli may bo stained Avith the usual aniline dyes and also 

 by Gram's method. 



