INCIDENTAL AILMENTS 



INFLUENZA 



Most veterinarians are agreed that influenza 

 is a specific or micro-organismal disease, and 

 one that, unfortunately for horses, is particularly 

 prevalent, though such prevalence is specially 

 marked at certain seasons of the year — spring 

 and autumn — though high and low states of 

 barometrical pressure do not constitute periods 

 of its cessation. That influenza is transmissible 

 from horse to horse is a fact that very few men 

 will dispute, but the pathways of its transmission 

 are less obvious than those of its infective nature. 

 It is characterised by its diversified forms, its 

 insidious method of attack; by the severe 

 prostration, high temperatures and the almost 

 constant catarrh; in fact, the latter, plus the 

 prostration, must, in the author's opinion, be 

 regarded as its most classical features. If one 

 member of a stud of hunters becomes aflected 

 with this trouble, the probabilities are (unless 

 precautionary methods have been adopted) that 

 other members of the stud will be affected in a 

 similar manner. There is a particular manifesta- 

 tion of influenza known as "epizootic cellulitis " 



125 



