SYMPTOMS 515 



§ 401. Symptoms. The mildest attacks are manifested 

 by paresis or loss of perfect control over the limbs, loss of 

 power over the tail, impairment of appetite and some difficulty 

 in swallowing, together with areas of hyperemia and reddish- 

 brown discoloration of the orbital and nasal mucosae. In 

 other cases paralysis of one or more limbs may supervene but 

 without marked fever or coma. 



The more severe forms are ushered in by violent tremb- 

 ling, or by stupor, apathy and extreme muscular weakness or 

 actual paralysis. In such cases the animal may stagger or 

 fall. The inability to swallow is often a marked symptom, the 

 saliva falling in strings from the lips. Another common 

 phenomenon is the rigid contraction of the muscles of the 

 neck, back and loins, the parts becoming tender to the touch 

 and a more or less prominent opisthotonos setting in. Twitch- 

 ing of the muscles of the shoulders and flanks may be noticed. 

 Trismus is sometimes seen. The breathing is usually rapid 

 and catchy and the temperature ranges from 104° to 106° F. 

 The pulse may be accelerated and hard, soft and weak, or al- 

 ternating. The eyes are usually violently congested, of a 

 brownish or yellowish-red color, and the eyeballs may be 

 turned to one side. Paroxysms of delirium may set in when 

 the animal will push against the wall or perform any of the 

 disorderly movements following meningo-encephalitis. Sooner 

 or later coma and paralysis supervene and death occurs in from 

 five to forty-eight hours. In the most acute cases the animal 

 falls and dies in convulsions. On an average the disease lasts 

 from eight to fourteen days. In the more favorable cases, 

 improvement may begin on the third or fourth day. One 

 attack does not protect the animal against a subsequent one. 



§ 402. Morbid anatomy. Most writers report lesions of 

 leptomeningitis, hyperemia of the brain and spinal cord, with 

 extensive effusion into the ventricles and subarachnoid spaces. 

 Petechise and parenchymatous degeneration of the -solid organs 

 of the body are also mentioned. In the cases examined by 

 the writer there has been an absence of lesions in the nervous 



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