32 



Malignant Edema. 



Malignant edema is an 



Fig. 8. Edema bacilli with flagella. 

 Agar culture; flagella staining. 



2. Malignant Edema. Oedema malignum 



{Septicaemia gangraenosa, Septicemie gangrenetise [French]; 

 Malignes Odem {German] ; Setticemia gangrenosa [Italian].) 



acute, febrile, infectious wound 

 disease of domestic animals, 

 which is characterized princi- 

 pally by edematous, later crepi- 

 tating swellings at the place of 

 infection. Its cause is the anae- 

 robic bacillus oedematis maligni. 

 History. The development of crep- 

 itating swellings following injuries, 

 seatons, castrations, etc., has been 

 known since earliest times, and Girard 

 (1880) proved that crepitating swell- 

 ings in sheep may be produced by 

 putrid animal substances. Chauveau 

 (1873) showed by experiments carried 

 out on male goats that the living or- 

 ganisms contained in injected putrid 

 blood were closely associated with the 

 development of the disease. Pasteiir 

 (1877) studied more closely the bac- 

 terium, named by him as "Vibrion 

 septique, ' ' and also succeeded in grow- 

 ing it in pure culture. Later Koch 

 & Gaffky (1881) extensively investi- 

 gated the disease produced by the in- 

 oculation of dirt, and which they 

 termed malignant edema. Since that 

 time Kitt, Jensen & Sand, and Le- 

 clainche, have contributed to the bac- 

 teriology, while new observations re- 

 garding its occurrence in domestic 

 animals have been published by Jen- 

 sen & Sand, Ratz, Frohner, Carl and 

 others. 



Occurrence. Malignant edema 

 occurs everywhere since its caus- 

 ative agent is ever present in the 

 superficial layers of the soil. 

 Nevertheless it is not a very fre- 

 quent disease, but may occur in 

 horses and cattle, in cows partic- 

 ularly after parturition. Occa- 

 sionally in sheep it causes great 

 losses, and may in veterinary 



Fig. 10. Bacillus of malignant edema. hospitals among horSeS aSSUme 



%^'?cirLreovt g,r ^r ^? ^"^«^t.^« «^^^^«!^r as a sequel 



aration; fuohsin staining. 01 Operations (L. A. MeriUat). 



V g. 9. Bacillus of malignant edema. 



Spore formation three-day old 



.ijiar culture, stained with 



diluted fuehsin solution. 



