CHAPTER XXXVII. 



THE BACILLUS OF QUARTER ILL. 

 (BACILLUS CHAUVJEI.) 



Introduction. 



Section I. The experimental disease, p. 552. 



1. Susceptible animals, p. 552. 2. Methods of infection, p. 553. 3. Symptoms 

 and lesions, p. 553. 

 Section II. Morphology, p. 554. 



1. Microscopical examination and staining reactions, p. 554. 2. Cultural charac- 

 teristics, p. 555. 

 Section III. Biological properties, p. 556. 



1. Vitality and virulence, p. 556. 2. Vaccination, p. 556. 3. Toxin, p. 558. 

 4. Serum therapy, p. 559. 5. Agglutination, p. 560. 



THE bacillus of quarter ill, symptomatic anthrax or black quarter was dis- 

 covered by Arloing, Cornevin and Thomas. 



Quarter ill is a disease of cattle and also, but rarely, of sheep and goats ; other 

 animals are not subject to the spontaneously contracted disease. Cattle are only 

 affected between the ages of 4 months and 5 years ; in the early weeks of life they are 

 immune and again become insusceptible after 5 years of age. 



The virus is present in soil and infection takes place through the skin, trachea 

 and probably the alimentary canal (Arloing). Epizootics occur generally in the 

 summer and are particularly prevalent in certain districts : for instance in the 

 Pyrenees, in the district of Haute Marne, and in Switzerland. The disease is almost 

 always fatal and is responsible for a heavy mortality among cattle. 



Quarter ill has the clinical symptoms of a septicaemia : the temperature is raised, 

 the animal is dull, loses its appetite and ceases to chew the cud : swellings appear 

 on the limbs, in the angle of the jaws, in the throat, on the thorax and in the testicles ; 

 the swellings most commonly involve the neighbouring muscles, where they rapidly 

 grow to a very large size becoming emphysematous and crepitant in the centre ; 

 the oedema increases peripherally and the animal dies in 3-5 days. 



SECTION I. THE EXPERIMENTAL DISEASE. 

 1. Susceptible animals. 



Guinea-pigs, oxen and sheep are very susceptible to experimental inocula- 

 tion : goats less so. Donkeys and horses suffer from a painful oedematous 

 swelling at the site of (sub-cutaneous) inoculation but rapidly recover. 



Rabbits are immune, but their immunity can easily be overcome (Roger, 

 Leclainche and Vallee). 



If the site of inoculation be traumatized or if a little lactic acid or a small quantity 

 of a culture of Micrococcus prodigiosus be inoculated with the bacillus the resistance 



