HISTORY 



411 



lesions of the generative organs and nervous system, such as 

 local venereal swellings, chancerous ulcers and cicatrices, de- 

 mentia and paralysis. 



The disease is essentially an equine one, although the fol- 

 lowing species are susceptible to experimental inoculation, 

 namely: dogs, rabbits, rats, mice and asses. While the horse 

 shows the greatest susceptibility, the ass is comparatively 

 resistant to the infection. 



§ 319. History. Dourine seems to have first been 

 recognized in Algeria. It was first clearly described in 1796 

 by Ammon who found it in the royal stud at Trakchnen in 

 Northern Prussia. We have later, 1801 and 1807, descrip- 

 tions of the disease in the same locality. It was found in 

 Bomberg in 1817 to 1820, in Austria and Bohemia in 1821-8, 

 in Syria in 1821, in Switzerland in 1830, in France in 1830-32, 

 in Siberia in 1833-40, in Italy in 1836, in Russia in 1843, in 

 Poland in 1830-40, in Algiers in 1847-55. ^° Syria and Asia 

 generally it is reported to appear perennially. 



It is not known to have invaded Belgium, Scandinavia, 

 England, South America or Australia. All indications point 

 to Asia and Northern Africa as the home of the disease where 

 it still appears perennially. 



It was found in De Witt County, 111., in 1882. The first 

 animal showing the disease was a brown stallion that had been 

 imported from France. In this locality it spread to a consid- 

 earble number of breeding mares and stallions. The disease 

 was very largely stamped out of that region by a rigid quar- 

 antine of diseased and exposed animals. Some exposed ani- 

 mals had, however, left the district, and it is not surprising 

 that isolated centers of infection are occasionally found. 



§ 320. Etiology. ThanhofFer found in the blood, vagi- 

 nal mucus, testicle, semen, spinal fluid and roots of the dorsal 

 and lumbar nerves, bacteria, especially streptococci and less 

 constantly bacilli, to which he attributed the cause. More 

 recently Schneider and Buffard have apparently demonstrated 

 that one of the Trypanosoma is the specific pathogenic agent. 



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