42 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



the disease in its own stable, through the agency of contaminated pro- 

 vender, hay, or oats; the latter particularly have been proved in several 

 instances to be highly infective to the horses which consume them. 



Symptoms. Anthrax in all animals runs its course to a fatal termi- 

 nation with remarkable rapidity, and there is often nothing in the 

 indications to excite suspicion of the nature of the disease. There are 

 the ordinary signs of fever, rise of internal temperature, quick pulse, and 

 increased respiration. The animals stagger when attempting to walk, 

 and sometimes suffer from colic. The most characteristic symptom is 

 swelling of the throat, extending clown- 

 wards towards the chest; finally there is 

 profuse perspiration, which is followed by 

 death usually within thirty hours from 

 the time of the attack. In most cases a 

 fatal result is the first indication of the 

 existence of the disease. An animal 

 which has been left in apparent health 

 is found dead an hour or two after- 

 wards. 



The post-mortem appearance indicates 

 general congestion of the internal organs, 

 with effusion of blood into the tissues ami 

 cavities of the body and also under the 

 skin. 



Treatment. Owing to the rapid progress of the disease, curative 

 treatment is never attempted in cases which are diagnosed as anthrax, 

 but it may be remarked that the diagnosis is extremely difficult, even 

 when the disease is suspected to be anthrax, from the fact that the 

 organism is not detectable in the blood until shortly before death, and 

 it is only found in abundance after death, as seen in fig. 218, B. 



Prevention will include an enquiry into the circumstances which have 

 led to the introduction of the disease, and with this view it will be neces- 

 sary to examine the articles of food by the aid of the microscope, and 

 also by use of cultivative media on which the organism is known to 

 grow. The final test of the inoculation of guinea-pigs or rabbits with 

 the water in which the suspected provender has been soaked will probably 

 be necessary. 



In cases of the outbreak of anthrax among horses kept in stables it will 

 be safe to conclude that the organism had been introduced into the blood 

 by contaminated provender, water, or litter, but when horses are attacked 

 while on a pasture it is very likely that an enquiry will prove that the 



Fig. 218. Bacillus anthracis 

 A, Bacilli in chains. B, Bacilli disconnected. 



