DISTOMATOSIS — LIVER FLUKE DISEASE — LIVER ROT. 



305 



>nr 



scourge. It should be remarked, however, that all those affected do not 

 die; animals kept under good conditions may even survive for several 

 months, although greatly wasted. 



Towards March and April the parasites leave their position, and are 

 conveyed by the current of bile towards the intestine, to be rejected 

 with the f?eces. This is the period of convalescence and recovery; but 

 recovery is only relative, for the parasites are never entirely evacuated. 

 The distomata then recommence their 

 life cycle outside the animal body. 



Unfortunately the mortality caused by 

 distomata is accidentally aggravated by 

 other. diseases, and the scourge then be- 

 comes an absolute disaster for the dis- 

 tricts where such complications occur. 

 Thus Besnoit and Cuille, of Toulouse 

 have shown that distomatosis may be- 

 come complicated with a form of very 

 rapidly fatal haemorrhagic septicaemia, 

 produced by an ovoid bacterium. 



Distomatosis, already sufficiently 

 grave, then becomes infinitely more 

 serious, if only from the fact that it 

 may prove the point of origin of an 

 absolutely fatal complication. 



In bovine animals the symptoms de- 

 velop exactly as in sheep, though the 

 cachectic period is uncommon and the 

 injury done is often less important than 

 in sheep. The patients exhibit irregular 

 appetite, wasting without appreciable 

 cause, anaemia, and even diarrhcea. In 

 spite of excellent winter feeding they 

 do not regain condition, and relative re- 

 covery only sets in with the approach of spring. Death from simple 

 distomatosis is exceptional, but in animals so predisposed enteritis de- 

 velops more easily, as do all forms of infection of intestinal origin. 



The disease is, however, also grave for bovines because successive 

 reinfection occurs, and the disease may be prolonged for years. 



Causation. Distomatosis is due to one cause, viz., the entrance of 

 embryo flukes into the digestive apparatus of herbivora. 



The adult distomata in the biliary ducts continually discharge large 

 quantities of eggs, though the process is most active between February 

 and June or July. The eggs are carried aw^ay with the bile and faeces 



D.C. X 



Fig. 161. — Macerated specimen 

 of large American fluke, show- 

 ing the digestive system and 

 acetabulum. X 2. (After Stiles, 

 1894, p. 226, Fig. 2.) 



