VESICULAR EXANTHEMA IN CATTLE. 



Definition : acute infections, eruptive affection, usually of the genitals, in 

 cattle, transmitted by breeding, and marked by congestion, papules, vesi- 

 cles and pustules. Cause : infection by coition ; by contact, by gutter, by 

 tail, by licking, in sucklings. Oxen and non-pregnant cows suffer. Symp- 

 toms : incubation i to 6 days, cows have swelling, red points, papules, vesi- 

 cles and pustules on vulvar mucosa and adjoining skin, with profuse glairy 

 discharge, and it may be fever : bull has matting of preputial hairs, frequent 

 micturition, swollen sheath, red penis, vesicles, even necrotic ulcers and 

 distortion. Immunization shoit, uncertain. Treatment as in horse. Pre- 

 vention : seclusion and disinfection of animals, disinfection of stalls, gut- 

 ters, rubbing posts, trees, complete segregation of sick from healthy. 



Definition. An acute eruptive affection, attacking particularly 

 the generative organs of breeding cattle, manifested by conges- 

 tion, papules, vesicles and pustules of the mucosa and .skin and 

 transmitted largely by copulation. 



Causes. The one known cause is infection and the most com- 

 mon mode of communicating it is by the generative act. In this it 

 agrees with the mild coital exanthema of horses, and the two af- 

 fections have been considered as identical with each other and 

 with cowpox (Trasbot). The similarity of the symptoms and 

 the duration of the disease sustain this view, but, if correct, it is 

 probable that the affection has undergone a distinct modification 

 which adapts the microbe especially to life in the genital canal, 

 and to the maintenance of its virulence for a longer period, and 

 finally, robs it of the power of producing any permanent im- 

 munity. Cowpox, though raised on the lips of the vulva, the 

 inner side of the thighs and the abdomen where it can be easily 

 reached by the tail does not tend to implicate the genital canal, 

 and it so quickly secures immunity, that neither male nor female 

 would be likely to long'convey the disease. Yet in both horses 

 and cattle experience shows that the acquired immunity of vesic- 

 ular exanthema is very short lived. 



Cattle, much more than horses, are liable to tran,smis.sion of 

 the disease by other channels than coition. Contact with the 

 same soiled stall and gutter, the direct transference to adjoining 

 animals by the soiled tail, and the greater frequency with which 



365 



