Smallpox in Sheep, 347 



SHEEP SMALLPOX— VARIOLA OVINA. 



Definition. — A contagious eruptive fever depending upon 

 a specific poison, corresponding in character to that wliich 

 j^roduces smallpox in the human race. 



Causes. — The ravages which smallpox in the sheep has 

 caused fully equal those which the analogous disease inflicted 

 on the human race in the last century. It does not ap- 

 pear to be mutually contagious, however. The sheej) pox, 

 though common on the continent of Europe for one hundred 

 and fifty years previous to 1847, did not reach England 

 until that year, and has, we believe, not yet made its appear- 

 ance in this country, though in the importation of sheep, 

 hides and wool, we are never secure from its introduction. 



The mortality in England has occasionally reached one- 

 third of the flock in a single outbreak ; and in Austria and 

 Hungary the losses are said to foot up from four to five 

 hundred thousand sheep in some years. It is, therefore, a 

 scourge much to be dreaded. 



Symptoms. — Sheep pox shows itself in two forms, one 

 malignant, the other mild. 



The malignant form is not accompanied with an eruption 

 of pustules on the skin. There are some scarlet or purple 

 points, but they do not maturate or form pus. The animal 

 ceases to eat, moves unwillingly, his head is swollen, the eyes 

 closed and often inflame and ooze out ; the wool falls ofl) 

 the skin cracks in a zig-zag manner, and the nostrils become 

 filled \\>ith a fetid discharge. The animal suffers extremely 

 from thirst, but cannot drink, or with difficulty, on account 

 of the inflammation of the lips. Death generally occurs in 

 from two to three weeks from the outset of the disease. 



In the milder form the eruption first shows itself in a 

 diffused redness, or in a number of minute red spots like flea 

 bites, on that portion of the skin least covered with wool, 



