The Vesicular Venereal Disease 281 



disease. The very rapid spread of the vesicular disease 

 serves also to distinguish it from the virtually omnipresent 

 nodular venereal disease. 



The prognosis is highly favorable. Recovery from the 

 disease is prompt, and almost always complete. It causes 

 small loss to the dairyman. The cow retains her appetite, 

 she does not lose perceptibly in flesh, and the milk supply 

 is not seriously disturbed. Rarely, especially following the 

 use of strong antiseptics, constriction or atresia of the va- 

 gina may follow, which may interfere later with copulation 

 or parturition. 



The control of the disease must rest fundamentally upon 

 isolation, especially sexual isolation. Since the disease is 

 preeminently venereal in character, breeding should be 

 completely suspended until all signs of the disease in the 

 herd have disappeared. Even steers or oxen should not be 

 permitted to run in pasture or in paddocks with cows, be- 

 cause in attempts at copulation they might transmit the 

 disease. It is not necessary to separate the diseased from 

 the healthy by any great distance. Close proximity should 

 of course be avoided, because the disease might be trans- 

 mitted from animal to animal through the medium of the 

 tail or soiled bedding. Diseased animals should on no ac- 

 count be bred until they have thoroughly recovered, and 

 even then it is well to use antiseptic precautions just before 

 and after breeding. For this purpose, both the vagina of 

 the cow and the sheath of the bull should be thoroughly 

 disinfected prior to permitting copulation. The disinfection 

 of the sheath of the bull should be repeated immediately 

 after copulation, and the douching of the vagina of the cow 

 may be carried out within five or six hours after copulation 

 and repeated occasionally until the attending veterinarian 

 believes than any possible danger has been eliminated. The 

 thorough disinfection of the stalls and of the soiled parts 

 of the animals contributes materially to the control of an 

 outbreak. 



The treatment of the disease consists of the disinfection 

 of the copulative organs and of those parts of the animal 



