SECTION- XIX 



INFECTIOUS CONSTITUTIONAL DISEASES 

 Distemper 



THIS is the most widespread, the most common, 

 the most fatal, and with the exception of rabies 

 the most dreaded malady of dogs. When first dis- 

 covered in France, from which country it was im- 

 ported into Great Britain, it was and is still named 

 distemper, yet that name seems mihappily chosen 

 as being too indefinite for correct application to a 

 disease marked by such varying phases. Distemper 

 is also known as "dog ill" in some parts of Eng- 

 land, and the Scotch term it "the snifters." This 

 latter term, although unscientific, certainly graphi- 

 cally conveys to the mind one important character- 

 istic of the disease, namely, the sniffing noise — 

 half-cough, half-sneeze — made by the dog in his 

 efforts to get rid of the exudate which accurrjulates 

 in the upper air passages; but "sniffing" is a term 

 too limited to adequately describe a disease which 

 has well been called the "scourge of the kennel," 

 and which assumes so many forms and complica- 

 tions. 



Etiology. — Until quite recently the causative 

 agent of this disease was simply a matter of specu- 

 lation, many theories being advanced as to the etio- 

 logical factor. The microorganism now definitely 

 determined as the sole cause of distemper is the 

 Bacillus bronchisepticus*, discovered and isolated in 

 pure culture by Dr. N. S. Ferry. Although respon- 

 sible for the primary symptoms of the disease, the 

 Bacillus bronchisepticus is by no means responsible 



*Many able observers have been unable to verify the findings o( 

 Ferry, and the causative factor in canine distemper may be said 

 to be unsettled in the minds of many bacteriologists, not a few of 

 whom believe the agent to be a protozoan. 



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