HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA IN CATTLE 59 
HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICEMIA IN CATTLE 
Synonyms. Wild und Rinderseuche: Pasteurellosis bovum: Sépti- 
cémie hémorrhagique du boeuf; Septicaemia pluriformis. 
Characterization. Hemorrhagic septicemia in cattle is determined 
by an acute attack usually running a rapid course and terminating 
fatally. The lesions consist largely of hemorrhagic areas more or 
less widely distributed throughout the body and due to the presence 
of Bacterium bovisepticum. It occurs more frequently in cattle. It 
has been described, however, in other ruminants, horses and mules. 
Men, dogs and fowls are reported by Gaiger to be immune. 
History. In 1878, Bollinger described under the name of Wild- 
und Rinderseuche an epizodtic disease which killed a large number of 
wild boars and deer in the Royal game preserves of Munich. After 
the disease in these animals had died out, the domestic cattle in the 
neighborhood began to die of the same or a very similar affection. 
He reports it to be sudden in its onset and rapidly fatal in its course, 
with a mortality of 90 per cent. Death occurred in from 12 hours to 
a few days after the appearance of symptoms.* 
In 1885, Kitt studied an epizodtic disease in cattle and swine in 
Sincbach. From this disease he isolated a short, polar staining, non- 
motile, rod-shaped organism, fatal to cattle, horses, pigs, sheep, goats, 
dogs and rabbits. In the following year Oreste and Armanni reported 
a destructive disease of young buffaloes in Italy with symptoms and 
lesions similar to those reported by Bollinger and Kitt. This disease 
had been known in Italy for a century or more, where in certain dis- 
tricts it is reported to have recurred with great regularity, destroying 
both old and young animals. Inthe same year (1885) Poels described 
a septic pleuro-pneumonia in calves which prevailed in the vicinity of 
Rotterdam. It was of a septicemic nature. From the organs he 
*An exanthematous and a pectoral form are described. In the exanthematous form 
there are large and small hemorrhages disseminated throughout the muscles and viscera. 
The intestines exhibit large numbers of ecchymotic areas, while the submucous tissue 
is infiltrated with a serous exudate. Large hemorrhagic tumors infiltrated with serum 
are abundant in the subcutaneous tissue, often extending into the muscles. The 
mucous membranes of the tongue, larynx and pharynx, and the lymphatic glands of 
these regions, are swollen and infiltrated with more or less bloody serum. In the 
pectoral form, there is a hemorrhagic lobular pneumonia, with considerable infiltration 
into the interlobular tissue of a serofibrinous exudate. The pleura is infiltrated and 
inflamed and covered with a fibrinous exudate. The pleural cavities contain from two 
to twenty-five litres of liquid. At the same time there may exist a hemorrhagic 
enteritis and the widely disseminated hemorrhagic lesions common to the preceding 
form. 
