CONTAGIOUS PUSTULAR STOMATITIS 15 



coughing, which only have the effect of aggravating the 

 hemorrhage and complicating matters. Most horses will 

 violently resent the irrigating and spraying, while the 

 gauze packing is calmly submitted to in most cases. 



CONTAGIOUS PUSTULAR STOMATITIS 



Contagious pustular stomatitis of horses is an acute 

 febrile condition whose local manifestations occur chiefly 

 on the oral mucous membranes. While this disease has 

 all the characteristics of an infectious and contagious 

 disease, there is some question about its being a strictly 

 infectious ailment. The infecting agent is not univer- 

 sally recognized, although some investigators have iso- , 

 lated certain strains of micro-organisms, which may,' 

 however, be accounted for by a secondary or mixed in-\ 

 fection. Other authors consider the disease a manifes- j 

 tation of horse pox, while others, again, attribute the \j 

 infection to a common cause such as may occur from ^ 

 contaminated feed. There is some ground for the latter 

 assumption because the disease has a tendency to remain 

 enzootic and to affect nearly all the members of a stable 

 in a routine manner. 



The specificity of the condition is, on the other hand, 

 fairly well substantiated by the fact that human beings 

 frequently become infected; characteristic pustular der- 

 matitis develops on the hands. Veterinary surgeons are 

 occasionally infected thus while examining the mouth, 

 and the disease has been known to take a very serious 

 course in several cases of veterinarians so affected. (Dr. 

 Jas. Robertson, Professor of Veterinary Dentistry at 

 Chicago Veterinary College, narrowly escaped death 

 from the effects of an infection of this type in 1900.) The 

 period of inoculation in the horse is from six days to two 

 weeks. 



