390 ACUTE EXANTHEMATOUS INFECTIOUS DISEASES 



do not form pustules, the ulcers are usually deeper seated, and 

 there is no evidence of contagiousness. In contagious acne 

 the mucous membranes are not involved, "although large 

 pustules appear upon the skin in the region of the harness 

 rests. It could be confused only with those rare cases of 

 contagious pustulous stomatitis which do not involve the 

 mucous membranes. Coital exanthema affects the genital 

 organs. Horsepox is confined to the region of the fetlocks. 

 If the nasal mucosa is involved, contagious pustulous stoma- 

 titis might be confused with glanders. Glanders, however, 

 does not affect the buccal cavity. The ready healing of the 

 ulcers and the rapid spread to other horses are not noted in 

 glanders. |s- 



Course. — ^The disease usually lasts about two weeks^and 

 ends in complete recovery. It requires three to six days' for 

 the pustules to develop, they remain about four or five days 

 and form ulcers which heal in about the same time. Severe 

 cases may take a more protracted com-se in that one eruption 

 follows another in succession. Fatal cases are rare. They 

 result usually from secondary infection with pus organisms or 

 the necrosis bacillus or in that pharyngitis develops from the 

 specific process extending back to the pharynx, causing dys- 

 phagia and occasionally foreign-body pneumonia. 



Treatment. — ^Internal medication is rarely indicated. The 

 patient should be fed soft food, such as grass, gruels, bran 

 mashes, etc., and allowed constant access to fresh water. 

 The mouth may be syringed out two or three times daily 

 with a 2 per cent, lysol solution. Skin ulcers may be treated 

 with compound alum powder. 



Prophylaxis. — If only a few horses are affected they should 

 be isolated and given separate attendants. If, however, the 

 disease is generally distributed and fm-ther spread inevitable, 

 to shorten the course of the outbreak it is recommendable to . 

 inoculate the still healthy animals. This is easily performed 

 by taking a clean towel, passing it through the mouth of an 

 infected am'mal, and then through the mouth of those animals 

 which have not yet taken the disease. A thorough disin- 

 fection of the premises should follow. 



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