INFECTIOUS DISEASES OF OATTLE. 



407 



Bavaria: Per cent. 



Tuberculosis of lungs and serous membranes - - 41 



Tuberculosis of lungs alone 33 



Tuberculosis of serous membranes alone (pearly disease) 17 



Tuberculosis of other organs 8 



Baden: 



Tuberculosis of lungs alone... --- 21 



Tuberculosis of serous membranes alone 28 



Both combined 39 



Generalized tuberculosis ® 



Tuberculosis of the sexual organs alone 3 



Symptoms.— The beginning of the disease usually passes unnoticed, 

 inasmuch as it is very slow and insidious and rarely accompanied by 

 fever. When the lungs are involved a dull, short cough is noticed, 

 which may later on become prolonged, convulsive, and very trouble- 

 some to the animal. The cough is more frequent in the morning after 

 movement and drinking. The breathing varies. Only when much of 

 the lung tissue is diseased, it is labored and accompanied by active 

 movements of the chest and nostrils. Discharge from the nose is rare 

 or absent. At times, however, when the tubercles have broken down 

 and cavities containing cheesy masses have formed in the lung tissue, 

 or when the air tubes have become filled with cheesy and mucous 

 masses, coughing will dislodge these and cause their discharge. In 

 advanced stages the breath may have a disagreeable odor. Pressure 

 on the chest wall may give rise to pain. 



The general effect on the body is at first slight. In fact, animals 

 may remain in good flesh for a considerable time. Invariably, as the 

 disease progresses, loss of flesh and appetite and paleness of the 

 mucous membranes become manifest. These are accompanied by a 

 gradual diminution of the milk secretion. The debilitated condition 

 of the animal is also manifested by a staring coat and a tough, dry, 

 harsh skin (hidebound). Digestive disturbances are indicated by 

 tympanites, or distention of the rumen by gas, colic, and diarrhea, 

 alternating with constipation. The animal generally dies from exhaus- 

 tion after a period of sickness which may last months and years. 



Tuberculosis in the abdominal organs is often signalized by abor- 

 tion and by abnormal sexual manifestations. When the brain is 

 involved the disease may cause convulsions, unconsciousness, paraly- 

 sis, as well as peculiar movements in a circle, oblique position of the 

 head, etc. Lydtin quotes the following description of the disease as 

 taken from a Swiss sanitary order: 



A dry, short, interrupted, hoarse cough, which the sick animals manifest espe- 

 cially in the morning at feeding time, still more after somewhat violent exertion. 

 At first these animals maybe full-blooded and lay on a considerable amount of fat 

 when well fed. As the disease progresses they grow thin and show more and 

 more those appearances which indicate diseased nutrition, such as a staring, lus- 

 terless, disheveled coat; dirty, tense skin, which appears very pale in those regions 

 free from hair. The temperature of the skin is below normal. The loss of fat 



