CHAPTER VI. 

 ENTERITIS, 



Enteritis consists in inflammation of the intestine, or, more pre- 

 cisely, in inflammation of the intestinal mucous membrane. All the 

 constituent portions of the intestinal tube may be affected (duodenum, 

 jejeunum, ileum, colon, caecum); but clinical distinctions and localisation 

 of inflammation in the various i3arts are very difficult in the domesticated 

 animals, and at present it is impossible to describe with any accuracy 

 the differences between duodenitis, enteritis of the jejeunum and ileum, 

 colitis or typhlitis. Without doubt certain symptoms suggest that some 

 regions are more affected than others; but clinically we are only able 

 to distinguish between acute and chronic enteritis. Acute enteritis may 

 assume different forms, according to its intensity, rapidity of development, 

 and lesions, so that it is possible to distinguish between such conditions 

 as simple acute enteritis and haemorrhagic enteritis. 



Chronic enteritis, an abstraction founded on our knowledge of such 

 specific forms of enteritis as are due to tuberculosis, distomatosis, 

 helminthiasis, etc., usually assumes the diarrhoeic form. 



ACUTE ENTERITIS. 



As acute enteritis, whether localised in one portion of the intestine or 

 involving the whole intestinal tube, is produced by varying causes, and 

 assumes very varying degrees of intensity, its clinical symptoms are 

 equally diverse. 



Causation. The various forms of enteritis result from two great 

 series of causes : infections and intoxications. Normally the intestine 

 contains an extremely large number of different microbes, which may 

 prove of service- so long as circulation, secretion, and peristalsis continue 

 normal ; but as soon as any perturbation occurs, either in the blood 

 supply or in the movement of the bow^el, normal secretion is impeded ; 

 abnormal organic fermentation commences, producing irritant principles 

 or toxins which at once set up local irritation, or, being absorbed, produce 

 that complex of symptoms which we recognise as enteritis, intoxication 

 of intestinal origin, or even infection. 



