UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



ItjCl BULLETIN No. 674 Iffl 



*3k&)k>^AvJZj Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry •AskS-CltC? 



Industry 

 JOHN K. MOHLER, Chief 



Washington, D. C. PROFESSIONAL PAPER May 15, 1918 



HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA. 



By Henry J. Washburn, 

 Senior Pathologist, Pathological Division. 



CONTENTS. 



Characteristics 1 



History 2 



Cause of the disease 3 



Symptoms 5 



Anatomical changes 6 



Page. 



Diagnosis 7 



Prevention 8 



Treatment 9 



Disinfection ofpremises 9 



CHARACTERISTICS. 



Hemorrhagic septicemia is an infectious disease, attended with a 

 very high mortality, which attacks various species of animals, espe- 

 cially cattle, sheep, and swine. Young animals are more susceptible 

 to the disease than older ones, and those that are thin and poorly 

 nourished are most liable to be affected. 



The disease is a septicemia, or poisoning of the blood, wherefore it 

 often runs a short course and the affected animal quickly dies. In 

 suddenness of attack and high mortality at the beginning of an out- 

 break there is great resemblance to anthrax. 



In hogs the disease is known as swine plague. The acute form is 

 usually fatal to hogs within a few hours from the appearance of the 

 first symptoms. In chronic cases the affected hogs gradually become 

 weaker and thinner and may linger for several weeks. 



Fowl cholera represents the avian form of hemorrhagic septicemia., 

 and its attacks sometimes cause great losses. Pigeons and geese are 

 susceptible to hemorrhagic septicemia and the introduction of the in- 

 fection into flocks of birds of those kinds may lead to numerous 

 fatalities. 



The disease usually results in death so quickly at the beginning of 

 an outbreak that no forms of treatment have time to become effective. 

 The apparently healthy animals should be separated from the dis- 

 eased and placed in clean, uninfected quarters, where they should be 



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