1032 Veterinary Obstetrics 



animals, bedding or food. When the disease exists in a stable, 

 it is of great importance that all fecal and other excreta from 

 the diseased calves shall be promptly disinfected. The buttocks 

 and other soiled parts should be cleansed with a reliable disin- 

 fectant, and the soiled bedding and floor should be given close 

 attention. 



When the young animal has once become infected, the case is 

 almost hopeless. Various antiseptics have been used and recom- 

 mended, such as the tri-chloride of iodine, creolin, carbolic acid, 

 salicylate of soda and others. Opium has also been used and 

 recommended, in conjunction with powdered rhei radix. Opsonic 

 and serum prevention and cure have been proposed, but at 

 present do not warrant any relaxation in disinfection. 



c. Septic Pleuro-pneumonia of calves. 



Under the name of septic pleuro-pneumonia, Poels has des- 

 cribed a fatal disease of calves, complicated by inflammation of 

 the pleura and lungs, and caused by specific bacteria which be- 

 long to the colon group. Poels secured pure cultures of the 

 bacteria, which caused a disease in experiment calves that could 

 not be clinically distinguished from that in calves which had ac- 

 quired the infection in the natural way. The artificially-grown 

 bacteria also killed mice, rabbits and guinea pigs, and induced in 

 swine a disease which appeared very much like swine plague. 

 The bacteria were found, upon post-mortem examination, in the 

 blood and internal organs, and in the pleura and pulmonary exu- 

 dates. It is believed that the infection may enter through the 

 alimentary tract, the navel, the respiratory organs, or wounds 

 upon the body surface. 



The clinical and bacterial differentiation between calf dysen- 

 tery and pleuro-pneumonia in calves is not yet clear. Some hold 

 the two for identical ; others consider them as distinct diseases, 

 due to wholly distinct micro-organisms. 



It is common in outbreaks of calf pleuro-pneumonia, to observe 

 diarrhea. In some outbreaks of pleuro-pneumonia, diarrhea is 

 the rule rather than the exception. 



The reverse is equally true. Pleuro-pneumonia is b)'^ no means 

 rare in outbreaks of infectious dysentery. Certainly the two 

 may coexist. While the evidence for and against the idenity of 



