GANGRENOUS MAMMITIS OF MILCH EWES. 583 



GANGRENOUS MAMMITIS OF MILCH EWES. 



This disease occurs in different parts of France, and has also been 

 seen in Germany. 



Causation. Lafosse in 1856 attributed it to the dark and dirty 

 condition of the sheep-folds, a cause which certainly contributes to 

 its propagation, though it is not the determining cause of the disease 

 itself. The latter is a specific micrococcus discovered in 1875 by 

 Eivolta, and thoroughly studied by Nocard in 1886 and 1887. 



Symptoms. The course of the symptoms offers a certain analogy 

 to that of septic engorgements and interstitial mammitis or mammary 

 lymphangitis. As a rule only one gland is infected, but generally 

 symptoms at once appear, indicating an extremely dangerous condition, 

 viz., peracute mammitis. The patient suddenly becomes dull and 

 entirely loses appetite, rumination ceases and respiration is short 

 and jerky, although the bodily temperature does not always rise to any 

 marked extent. 



Local symptoms soon develop. The udder assumes a violet-red 

 tint and becomes the seat of an erysipelatous swelling ; the local tem- 

 perature rises, but as the disease progresses it gradually falls again. 

 Milk secretion ceases. 



All these appearances rapidly become aggravated. The patient lies 

 down ; the oedematous swelling extends to the belly and even to the 

 chest and thighs ; the local temperature falls, indicating the immi- 

 nence of gangrene; the teat becomes contracted, and the pulse is very 

 frequent and almost imperceptible. From time to time the animal 

 grinds its teeth. 



The bodily temperature next falls to 98° or even 96 °Fahr. (37° or 

 36° C), and the animal shows extreme prostration. The subcutaneous 

 swelling extends as far as the sternum in one direction and the 

 quarters and perineum in the other. The udder crackles under the 

 finger. Death occurs without a struggle. 



All these symptoms follow as a rule in barely more than twenty- 

 four hours. Nevertheless, in certain cases, the disease lasts for three, 

 four or five days. Cases of spontaneous recovery are exceptional, 

 The gangrenous part may become delimited and slough away, leaving 

 an enormous suppurating wound, which slowly cicatrises. Even 

 though the animals survive, they never recover condition, but remain 

 weakly, so that, from a monetary standpoint, death, would have been 

 preferable. Moreover, the lambs are starved and require a foster- 

 mother. 



Lesions. Post-mortem examination reveals oedematous infiltration 

 of the udder and surrounding connective tissue, and often extensive. 



