RURAL VETERINARY HECRETS 127 



LOCKJAW (Tetanus) 



Lockjaw or tetanus is an infection due to a specific germ, 

 (Baccilus Tetanus), which gains access to the circulation through 

 wounds of some kind, most frequently through a nail-prick or other 

 small wounds caused by a small sharp instrument, which does not 

 make a large wound and closes after the instrument is withdra\vn. 

 Thus the germs arc inclosed and usually develop in such large num- 

 bers that they bring about the rigid tetanic condition of the body 

 shown above, in about twenty-one days. Some cases developing 

 after the twenty-first day are usually much milder than those which 

 develop before. Some cases develop sooner and some later. 



TREATMENT 



When a horse steps on a nail, the wound should be opened 

 freely after the nail has been extracted, in order t-o give access of 

 air and free drainage. Tetanus germs cannot propagate unless air 

 and sunlight are excluded. N'accinate the animal with Tetanus 

 Vaccine (from 500 to 1,000 units) and thoroughly disinfect the 

 wound with a solution of Lotio Vita. Many a valuable animal 

 which has been doomed to death has been saved in this way. In 

 every case the patient should be kept quiet in a dark, comfortable 

 stall. 



LUMP JAW (Actenomicosis) 



Lump Jaw is due to a specific germ which gains access to the 

 animal body through the food. It is communicable from one animal 

 to another when the lumps, which form in the region of the lower 

 jaw, break open and discharge pus containing the live germs. If 

 this happens while the animal is in the pasture grazing and the 

 pus trickles on the ground during the natural movements of the 

 jaw, other cattle following will eat the grass containing the pus and 

 thus introduce the germ, which finds its way to the glands in the 

 submaxillary space where the pus sack or lump is formed after which 

 the disease is commonly named. 



TREATMENT 



The treatment consists in opening the pus sacks and squeezing 

 out the pus, after which the sack should be washed clean and Elk's 

 Absorbing Ointment rubbed in freely to absorb the sack and kill 

 germs which might remain. Repeat in three or four days. This is 

 a satisfactory treatment in all early cases, but if the lump has be- 

 come chronic, viz. : If it has broken open on its own accord and 

 closed several times, the above treatment must be repeated until 

 the entire bunch disappears. 



