OF VETERINARY MEDICINE. 



175 



introduction into the animal of a h?ematozoon known as the try- 

 panosoma Evansi. This parasite has a long whip-like body with 

 a tail something like a flagellum. The parasite was discovered 

 by Evans. The organisms may be taken into the body through 

 the medium of the food and water, but it is believed now that 

 they are inoculated into the host by some certain insect, such as a 

 certain kind of fly or mosquito. The disease affects the horses 

 usually in the low, swampy regions. It is called trypanosomiasis. 

 From the alimentary tract the parasite enters the blood and more 

 or less disorganizes it, producing great debility, emaciation, fever, 

 capricious appetite and finally death through syncope and col- 

 lapse in from 6 weeks to 6 months. 



Post Mortem. — There are no post mortem lesions found. 

 There is a disease found in the northwestern part of this country 

 and in Canada and Montreal called Swamp fever or Swamp dis- 

 ease. It has the symptoms of surra but the trypanosome has 

 not been found in the blood nor are the lesions at post specfiic. 

 Surra is very prevalent in the Philippine Islands. 



Treatment. — Xo known therapeutic treatment has had any 

 effect so that preventive measures are the only ones which can 

 be counted on. Keep the horses on high land or drain the low 

 swampy places. If the horse takes the disease this can be rec- 

 ognized by the peculiar symptoms. The animal will run down 

 rapidly and in a few weeks generally dies. It is presumed that 

 the trypanosomata are excreted in the feces and urine and these 

 products should therefore be taken care of as far as possible or 

 else the animal killed. 



INFLUENZA. 



The word influenza comes from the Latin word meaning "in- 

 fluence." The disease was so named in human medicine on ac- 

 count of the influence the planets are supposed to have upon the 

 atmospheric conditions and the resultant changes upon the ani- 

 mal life on the earth. No disease spreads so rapidly as in- 

 fluenza. The especial cause has been attributed to several dift'er- 

 ent micro-organisms. Pfeiffer isolated a bacillus which he 

 thought was the specific cause and called it by his own name. 



