HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA 325 



Treatment. — Medicinal treatment is useless. In outbreaks, 

 removing the sick cattle to other pastures is recommended. 

 If the disease occurs in a stable, disinfection is in place. As 

 a rule, after a certain number of cattle in a herd die the disease 

 stops of itself. The carcasses should be disposed of as recom- 

 mended under anthrax. The dried hides are said to be 

 harmless. 



Septic Pleuropneumonia of Calves.— Definition.— This dis- 

 ease is evidently a form of hemorrhagic septicemia of cattle. 

 It is a specific plem-opneumonia of calves due to a bipoled 

 bacillus. 



Occurrence. — ^The disease is widely distributed and not 

 infrequently occurs simultaneously with an outbreak of 

 hemorrhagic septicemia of older cattle. 



Etiology. — ^The Bacterium vitulisepticum which seems 

 identical with the germ Bacterium bovisepticum. 



Natural Infection. — Infection takes place through the 

 digestive tract, with food and water polluted with the dis- 

 charge of affected calves. 



Necropsy. — ^The principal changes are bronchopneumonia 

 with serofibrinous pleuritis. Catarrhal bronchitis and laryn- 

 gitis are also present. Gastro-intestinal catarrh, swelling of 

 the lymph glands, and cloudy swelling of the parenchymatous 

 organs attend. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are those of acute or subacute 

 pneumonia. The affected calves are listless, the hair coat 

 staring, muzzle dry, abdomen tucked up and the general 

 appearance unthrifty. A common symptom is a short, some- 

 what painful cough emitted when the animals are disturbed 

 or driven from the barn into the outside air. The appetite 

 may be retained. The temperature is elevated and the res- 

 pirations dyspneic. Palpation over the thorax induces pain. 

 On percussion there is dulness in the lower part of the chest, 

 and on auscultation either the sounds of breathing are absent 

 or bronchial tones may be heard. More rarely friction sounds 

 are evident. The patients gradually become weaker, and in 

 most cases either die in one or two weeks, or there develops 

 chronic pulmonary phthisis. 



Prognosis. — ^The prognosis is uncertain; the mortality varies 

 but averages about 50 per cent. 



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