446 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



large herds. No vaccination should therefore be permitted in locali- 

 ties free from anthrax. It is also obviously unsafe to have snch vac- 

 cine injected by a layman; instead, it should be handled only by a 

 competent veterinarian. 



Anthrax is an entirely different disease from blackleg, and there- 

 fore blackleg vaccine does not act as a preventive against anthrax. 



ANTHRAX IN MAN (MALIGNANT PUSTULE, OR CAESUNCLE). 



Anthrax may be transmitted to man in handling the carcasses and 

 hides of animals which have succumbed to the disease. The infection 

 usually takes place through seme abrasion or slight wound of the 

 skin into which the anthrax spores, or bacilli, find their way. The 

 point of inoculation appears at first as a dark point or patch, com- 

 pared by some writers to the sting of a flea. After a few hours this 

 is changed into a reddened pimple, which bears on its summit, usually 

 around a hair, a yellowish blister, or vesicle, which later on becomes 

 red or bluish in color. The burning sensation in this stage is very 

 great. Later on, this pimple enlarges, its center becomes dry, gan- 

 grenous, and is surrounded by an elevated discolored swelling. The 

 center becomes drier and more leather-like, and sinks in as the whole 

 increases in size. The skin around this swelling, cr carbuncle, is 

 stained yellow or bluish, and is not infrequently swollen and doughy 

 to the touch. The carbuncle itself rarely grows larger than a pea or 

 a small nut, and is but slightly painful. 



Anthrax swellings, or edemas, already described as occurring in cat- 

 tle, may also be found in man, and they ar9 at times so extensive as to 

 produce distortion in the appearance of the part of the body on which 

 they are located. The color of the skin over these swellings varies 

 according to the situation and thickness of the skin and the stage of 

 the disease, and may be white, red, bluish, or blackish. 



As these carbuncles and swellings may lead, sooner or later, to an 

 infection of the entire body, and thus be fatal, surgical assistance 

 should at once be called if there is well-grounded suspicion that any 

 swellings resembling those described above have been due to inocula- 

 tion with anthrax virus. Inasmuch as physicians differ as to treat- 

 ment of such accidents in man r it would bo out of place to make any 

 suggestions in this connection. 



To show that the transmission of anthrax to man is not so very 

 uncommon, we take the following figures from the report of the German 

 Government for 1890: One hundred and eleven cases were brought to 

 the notice of the authorities, of which 11 terminated fatally. The 

 largest number of inoculations were due to the slaughtering, opening, 

 and skinning of animals affected with anthrax. Hence the butchers 

 suffered most extensively. Of the 111 thus affected, 36 belonged to 

 this craft. 



In addition to anthrax of the skin (known as malignant pustule), 



