Contagious Cellulitis 69 



Early in the disease there is a manifestation of pain in the 

 limbs, which is shown by shifting of the weight from one foot to 

 another while the animal is standing and by great stiffness and 

 soreness when forced to move, the movements being accompan- 

 ied by a cracking sound in the joints. After a time the legs be- 

 gin to swell, commencing at the feet and extending upward until 

 at times it reaches the body. This tumefaction has its chief 

 seat in the subcutaneous connective tissue and is at times very 

 great. As the swelling of the limbs increases, the pain in them 

 tends to abate and at the same time the fever begins to decrease. 



The alimentary tract is greatly disturbed, there being a very 

 marked tendency to constipation at first, in which the feces are 

 covered with large quantities of mucus and their color considera- 

 bly altered. Defecation causes some pain and straining. I,ater 

 there is a tendency to diarrhoea, which is easily and often fatally 

 intensified by the administration of purgatives, especially of 

 aloes. The conjunctiva is markedly altered in color, becoming a 

 bright, pink hue, swollen and edematous. At times the con- 

 junctivae are so badly swollen that the eyelids become somewhat 

 everted and the edematous membrane pushed out between them. 

 The eyes are very sensitive to light and the animal attempts to 

 keep them closed. There is a profuse secretion of tears, which 

 flow down over the cheeks. The cornea is frequently clouded 

 so that vision may for a time be interrupted. There is some 

 tendency toward pleurisy, pneumonia and other pulmonary 

 complications. 



From an obstetric standpoint, the chief interest lies in the 

 complications of the genital organs. In our experience, the 

 breeding stallion shows a great tendency to suffer from orchitis. 

 We have seen in large importing stables 50 to 75% of the stall- 

 ions attacked with pink eye suffering from inflammation of the 

 testicles. Along with the swelling of the scrotum and sheath, 

 which accompanies that of the legs, there usually appears a 

 tense, painful enlargement of the testicles, which tends to persist 

 for a considerable period after the general symptoms of the dis- 

 ease have largely disappeared. In some instances we have seen 

 permanent sterility result so that the breeding value of the 

 stallion was coriipletely destroyed. 



In other cases we have noted that stallions apparently re- 

 covered from the disease have quite uniformly transmitted it. 



