Congenital Infections of Calves 655 



The fetus undergoes partial suffocation. It is not strange, 

 therefore, to observe that aborts frequently, if not generally, 

 suffer from diarrhea. It is indeed not improbable that 

 dysentery of the fetus frequently plays a vital part in caus- 

 ing fetal death, and hence abortion. In examining aborts 

 meconic pellets are commonly found in the stomach : that is, 

 prior to death the fetus had defecated and then swallowed 

 its excrement. 



In the later stages of pregnancy fetal diarrhea is not rare. 

 I have seen many gallons of diarrheic feces in the amniotic 

 sac at the time of expulsion of the fetus. More commonly 

 there is but a moderate amount in the amniotic sac and the 

 new-born calf is thickly smeared over with soft, sticky, 

 brownish-yellow feces. 



The calf which has suffered in the uterus from dysentery, 

 and is expelled completely covered with excrement, is fre- 

 quently vigorous. In some cases calves are born while 

 dysentery is in active progress. These, under careful hand- 

 ling, may grow vigorously. 



Most cases of severe dysentery develop within a few 

 hours to a few days after birth, but no time limit can be 

 fixed. In the research calves of my department, I now and 

 then see an acute dysentery after ten to fifteen days, but 

 these cases have been generally, if not always, relapses 

 after the disease has been brought under control and the 

 calf has apparently been well for a number of days. So far 

 as observed, these late cases were etiologically identical 

 with those occurring earlier. Clinically they presented the 

 same symptoms and reacted in the same manner to thera- 

 peutic efforts. 



There is no clear line of demarcation between white scours 

 and health. At one extreme is the ideally healthy calf; at 

 the other, the calf with fatal dysentery. Between these two 

 occur every possible gradation of disturbance. Neither does 

 there exist a clear line of demarcation between white scours 

 and calf pneumonia. Clinically the two glide imperceptibly 

 into each other, and etiologically they can not now be dif- 

 ferentiated. 



