CHAPTER XXVI. 



SWINE MEASLES. DISTEMPER IN DOGS. EPIDEMIC DISEASE OF 

 FERRETS. EPIDEMIC DISEASE OF MICE. 



SWINE MEASLES. 



SWINE MEASLES, or swine erysipelas, is described as an acute, in- 

 fectious disease of swine which is very prevalent in France and 

 Germany, but is included in this country in the term " swine fever." 

 According to some, it is a distinct disease, and distinguished from pig- 

 typhoid by absence of the ulceration of the intestines which is so 

 characteristic of that disease ; while, according to others, ulceration 

 of the intestine and ileo-ccecal valve may be found post-mortem. The 

 onset of the symptoms, as in pig typhoid, is very rapid ; the animals 

 cease to feed, and show other general signs of illness ; the voice is 

 hoarse, and there is a rapid rise of temperature. On the neck, 

 chest, and abdomen, red patches make their appearance, which 

 extend and coalesce, and change to a dark reddish or brownish colour. 

 These symptoms may be followed by convulsions, and sometimes by 

 paralysis of the hind legs; and death occurs in from one to four 

 days. It is especially a disease of young pigs, and from 50 to 60 

 per cent, of infected animals die. 



On post-mortem examination there is haemorrhage and oedema 

 in the patches of the skin, the lymphatic glands are swollen and 

 dark red, the peritoneum is ecchymosed, the intestinal mucous 

 membrane is congested and swollen, and the solitary follicles and 

 Peyer's patches are prominent, and in the neighbourhood of the ileo- 

 ccecal valve there are, according to Fliigge, ulcers of considerable size. 

 The liver and spleen are congested and enlarged. Pasteur investi- 

 gated swine measles or rouget, and described a figure-of-eight micro- 

 coccus, which he believed to be the contagium of this disease. This 

 organism appears to be identical with the bacterium of hsemorrhagic 

 .septicaemia, which is also commonly found in pig-typhoid. 



In experimenting with the virus obtained from the spleen 



365 



