Scab of Sheep. 95X 



pletely healthy from the already affected sheep, because single 

 mites under the wool or even little nodules or crusts mav be 

 easily overlooked on the most careful examination, the disease 

 may be exterminated only by treating all the animals in an 

 affected flock by dipping or washing, or in mild cases of disease 

 by smearing. 



The radical treatment by means of dipping can only be 

 undertaken in the warm time of the year because of the danger 

 that the animals catch cold afterwards, and all the more so as 

 the sheep generally must previously be shorn. In cases where 

 the disease occurs in the cold time of the year, and if the disease 

 is only slight, the visibly diseased animals should receive pre- 

 liminary treatment in order to prevent or hinder the spread of 

 the complaint, and with the onset of the warm time of the year 

 thorough treatment may be given to the flock. 



The treatment by inunctions, which is adopted in ordinary 

 sheep scab, is only palliative ; it consists in rubbing the diseased 

 parts of the skin at times with anti-parasitic ointments, lini- 

 ments or oils. For this purpose are suitable applications of 10% 

 carbolated or creosote oil, creolin-, lysol-, cresol- or bacillol 

 lininient (1 part of creolin, lysol, liquor cresoli saponatus or 

 bacillol, 1 part of alcohol, 8 parts of green soap), petroleum, 

 Helmerich's ointment, oil of turpentine, nicotine, and gray mer- 

 cury ointment (only to be employed on a few animals, when 

 these do not come in contact with lambs). Ostertag succeeded 

 in eradicating scab from flocks by inunctions with 5% of oil of 

 turpentine added to the juice of pressed tobacco, applied to all 

 suspicious places ; this treatment was repeated 2 or 3 times at 

 intervals of 7 days. On the other hand the observations of 

 government veterinary surgeons in Germany lead to the con- 

 clusion that the use of inunctions exerted an unfavorable in- 

 fluence on the total results in by far the great majority of cases 

 of scab. 



The only thorough cure is by dippingf, and is best carried 

 out in warm weather. This is preceded by shearing of the sheep 

 and by the usual simple w^ater bath, not only in order to utilize 

 the wool, but also in order that the remedies employed 

 may come in intimate contact with the diseased surfaces. In 

 case of necessity long fleeced animals may be treated, yet here 

 the result is uncertain, although Gmeiner, Griin and others con- 

 sider that dipping the sheep in such cases is advantageous, be- 

 cause the dip being stored up for days in the fleece can exert its 

 effect for a much longer time. After shearing it is advisable 

 in severely affected animals to soften the massive crusts with 

 soft soap, or better, to rub in a parasiticide immediately, such 

 as creolin, bacillol-, cresol- or lysol-liniment, and on the next 

 day to scratch off the crusts with a wooden knife or wash them 

 away with soap and water. (In Prussia this preparatory smear- 

 ing is especially recommended before dipping in cresol prepa- 

 rations.) The dipping then follows 3 to 4 days later, in the case 



