562 DISEASES OF THE HOESE. 



In a case under the care of the writer a horse, four weeks after 

 being bitten on the forearm by a rabid dog, developed local irrita- 

 tion in the healed wound and tore it with its teeth into a large ulcer. 

 This was healed by local treatment in 10 days, and the horse was kept 

 under surveillance for more than a month. On the advice of an- 

 other practitioner the horse was' taken home and put to work; within 

 3 days it developed violent symptoms and had to be destroyed. 



Diagnosis.— The diagnosis of rabies in the horse is to be made from 

 the various brain troubles to which the animal is subject ; first by the 

 history of a previous bite of a rabid animal or inoculation by other 

 means ; second, by the evident volition and consciousness on the part 

 of the animal in its attacks, offensive and defensive, on persons, 

 animals, or other disturbing surroundings. The irritation and re- 

 opening of the original wound or point of inoculation is a valuable 

 factor in diagnosis. Diagnosis after death may be made by micro- 

 scopic examination for Negri bodies or by the inoculation of rabbits, 

 as already mentioned. 



Recovery from rabies may be considered as a question of the cor- 

 rectness of the original diagnosis. Rabies is always fatal. 



Treatment. — No remedial treatment has ever been successful. All 

 the anodynes and anesthetics, opium, belladonna, bromid of potash, 

 ether, chloroform, etc., have been used without avail. The pro- 

 phylactic treatment of successive inoculations is being used on 

 human beings, and has experimentally proved efficacious in dogs, but 

 would be impracticable in the horse unless the conditions were quite 

 exceptional. 



DOURINE. 



By John E. Mohleb, V. M. D., Assistant Chief, Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Dourine (also known as maladie du coit, equine syphilis, covering 

 disease, breeding paralysis) is a specific infectious disease affecting 

 under normal conditions only the horse and ass, transmitted irom 

 animal to animal by the act of copulation, and due to an animal 

 parasite, the Trypanosoma equiperdwm. 



History. — It is described as having existed as early as 1796 in the 

 Eastern Hemisphere, and was more or less prevalent in several of 

 the European countries, including France, Germany, Austria, and 

 Switzerland, during the first half of the nineteenth century. Its 

 presence was recognized for the first time in the United States in 

 1886, when an outbreak occurred in Illinois. Since then the existence 

 of the disease has been observed at irregular intervals in numerous 

 other States, including Nebraska, Iowa, Montana, Wyoming, New 

 Mexico, North Dalrtoa, and South Dakota. 



Symptoms. — There are many variations in the symptoms of dourine, 

 and this is particularly true of the disease as it occurs in this coun- 



