Actinomycosis. Lumpy-Jaw. 33 



Actinomyces of pig's muscles. Infection in man : grain, fodder, barley- 

 awns, straws chewed. Relation of microbe to gramineas. Localization and 

 lesions in man. Diagnosis : Presence of microbe, slow growth, invasion by 

 contiguity, no preference for lymph system as in tubercle, cancer and 

 glanders : by improvement under potassium iodide ; from pyaemia and 

 mycetoma. Prevention : drain rich damp soils, avoid fodders grown on 

 them, especially in young, check the spread from affected animals, treat 

 latter, boil carcases, disinfect stalls, sores, etc. Treatment : excision, pack 

 with iodized phenol, or blue stone, inject potassium iodide, curette the 

 cavities, potassium iodide internally. Failures in cases of mixed (purulent) 

 infections. Addition of antistreptococcic serum. 



Actinomycosis is a chronic infective disease which occurs in 

 cattle, swine, horses, sheep, elephants and men, and which is 

 characterized by local inflammation and the formation of neo- 

 plasms containing the actinomyces. Experimentally the disease 

 has been developed in dogs, cats, goats, rabbits and Guinea-pigs. 



History and Geographical Distribution, What we now 

 recognize as actinomycosis had long been known to stockmen and 

 veterinarians as wens, cancer of the tongue, osteo-sarcoma, etc., 

 but it was not until 1876 that its true pathology was demonstrated 

 by Bollinger. When he had identified and accurately described 

 the pathogenic organism, new observations of the affection were 

 rapidly made not only in animals but also in man, and older 

 records were brought to light which pointed clearly to this affec- 

 tion. The oldest of these dates back to 1845 when I^augenbeck 

 made drawings which showed the radiated arrangement of club- 

 shaped cells found in pus derived from a diseased vertebra. In 

 1848 Lebert made equally unmistakable drawings of bodies found 

 in the gelatinous pus from a thoracic abscess. In 1868 Rivolta 

 described small cone-shaped bodies like those of the retina, which 

 he found in pus from disease of the maxilla of an ox. In 1871 

 Robin described and figured similar bodies found by him in 

 chronic abscesses. Perroncito in 1863 found these bodies in the 

 diseased lower jaw of a cow. After Bollinger's demonstration, 

 extended studies of the subject were made first by Johne, Ponfick, 

 Israel, Wolff and others. 



Actinomycosis is widely distributed in the temperate zones, and 

 has not yet been recognized to any extent in the tropics where 

 the closely allied disease mycetoma (Madura foot disease) is 

 prevalent. While we find it at all altitudes, on the elevated 

 plains of our western states as well as on the marshy river bot- 

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