MICROBIAL DISEASES OF MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 819 



this cauterization should not be omitted even if twenty-four hours have 

 elapsed. Cauterization cannot be relied upon to prevent the develop- 

 ment of rabies, but it does serve to prolong the'incubation period. The 

 Pasteur treatment should then be instituted as soon as possible, and 

 it has proved to be practically ap absolute preventive, provided the 

 incubation period of the disease is sufficiently prolonged for the treat- 

 ment to become effective, and this is usually the case. The treatment 

 consists in the daily subcutaneous injections of altered fixed virus for 

 a period of about three weeks, and is most effectively given at Pasteur 

 Institutes devoted especially to this work. Valuable animals as well 

 as man may be successfully treated in this way. 



The general prevention of rabies depends almost solely upon the 

 efficient control of all dogs in a community. General muzzling, strictly 

 enforced, is a certain preventive of rabies, and in countries where this is 

 done rabies is practically unknown. 



Swamp Fever* 



This is a comparatively new disease of horses so far as definite infor- 

 mation is concerned, but is in reality an old disease that has been 

 described under a variety of names for many years. It is known by 

 various names as infectious ancemia, malarial fever, horse typhoid, 

 "plains" paralysis, and pernicious anaemia, and has been recognized 

 in many portions of the Western United States and Canada. 



This disease is usually of chronic t3^e, but acute cases have been 

 reported. There is usually a long illness extending from a month to a 

 year or more, and marked by periods of fever and debiUty, alternating 

 with periods of apparent recovery. The phase of apparent illness is 

 characterized by mild fever, general weakness, and staggering gait, and 

 the disease terminates fatally, as a rule. The peculiar features of the 

 disease are the alternating periods of illness and recovery, unthrif tiness 

 in spite of unusually good appetite, pallor of mucous membranes, 

 dropsical swellings of the belly and limbs. 



It has been satisfactorily proved that swamp fever is caused by 

 filterable virus present in blood, urine, and faeces. 



tinder artificial inoculation with blood, the period of incubation 

 varies from ten to forty days. The natural method of infection is' 



* Prepared by M. H. Reynolds. 



