BOVINE PIROPLASMOSIS. 425 



Having good reason to suspect that certain morbid conditions, known 

 as mal de Brou, might be due to piroplasmosis, Lignieres endeavoured 

 to verify his theory, and discovered that sometimes, but not often, this 

 disease was mistaken in France for anthrax and mal de Brou. Piro- 

 plasmosis in France appears less grave than in America, and is rarely 

 fatal 



As regards its symptoms, it usually develops suddenly with fever, 

 loss of appetite, acceleration of the pulse and respiratory movements, 

 suppression of the milk secretion, and the passage of red haemoglobin- 

 uric urine. In exceptional cases death may occur in from three to 

 five days. 



On post-mortem examination a varying number of ticks {Ixodes 

 hexagonus) are found on the skin, the spleen is always increased in 

 size, and the kidneys are black and haemorrhagic. 



The disease transmitted by ticks, as in Texas fever, seems due to 

 the presence of a round parasite, different from the well-known Piro- 

 plasma higeminum. 



The elucidation of this disease, which occurs towards the northern 

 frontier of France in the neighbourhood of Maubeuge, calls for further 

 investigation. It never appears to be very fatal, and it attacks more 

 especially animals imported into the infected region. A method of 

 vaccination identical with that used by Lignieres against one of the 

 forms of the American disease may perhaps in the future prove avail- 

 able against the disease in France. Until then the best treatment 

 would appear to consist in free subcutaneous injection of saline solu- 

 tion and the administration of evacuants, sulphate of quinine, and 

 laxatives. 



OVINE PIROPLASMOSIS. 



Causation. The existence in France of this disease has not yet been 

 clearly established, for in the only communication on the subject (by 

 Leblanc in 1899) the WTiter seems to have confused the toxic haemo- 

 globinuria produced by feeding on decomposed beet pulp with the 

 parasitic haemoglobinuria due to piroplasmosis. 



In Italy ovine piroplasmosis was described by Bonomo in 1896 under 

 the title of parasitic icteric haematuria of sheep. It is said to be due to 

 a parasite of the red blood corpuscles {Amoeba sporidium polyphagum), 

 the said parasite being of oval form, very refractile, always occupying 

 an outer position near the free margin of the corpuscle, and sometimes 

 floating freely in the plasma. 



According to Babes, who described it under the name of garceac du 

 mouton, the same disease appears to occur in the islands and low parts 

 of the Danube valley. 



