DISEASES OF HORSES AND CATTLE. 171 



CHAPTER XL 



INFLUENZA (EPIZOOTIC OR CATARRHAL FEVER). 



Influenza is a specific disease of the horse, usu- 

 ally appearing as an epizootic, affecting the mu- 

 cous membrane of the air passages and sometimes 

 the mucous membrane of the eyelids, giving rise 

 to the term "Pink-eye," or affecting the mucous 

 membrane of the intestines, causing colic or inflam- 

 mation of the bowels. This disease is attended 

 with marked lassitude and prostration, and usu- 

 ally appears in the spring or fall months, affecting 

 a few animals or all the horses in a district If a 

 horse affected by it is put into a stable of healthy 

 horses, in a short time a number of them will be 

 taken ill, or it may be all the horses in the stable 

 will be seized with it. The cause of influenza is 

 supposed to be a vegetable fungus, as such has 

 been found in the discharges from the nose. The 

 causes are thought to be the condition of the at- 

 mosphere, or the animal being exposed to cold. In 

 the Spring and Fall, when the horse is changing its 

 coat and the pores of the skin are open, the horse 

 is more liable to colds. If the animal is exposed to 

 the cold winds and rains it will likely cause a dis- 

 ease which resembles influenza ; but we find when 

 there is an epizootic of it that horses which are well 

 kept will take it as readily as those exposed, and 



