Symptoms. 497 



its sudden appearance^ accompanied by the very acute and usually fatal 

 course, and the severe itching of a certain part of the body; if this 

 latter symptom is absent the disease may be readily mistaken for acute 

 poisoning in dogs and cats. 



The nature and mode of natural infection are not yet sufficiently 

 known. The observation that rats sometimes die in great numbers with 

 the disease simultaneously with numerous cases in dogs, cats or cattle 

 (Balas, Hutyra), and that the conspicuous itching occurs mostly on a 

 portion of the face, renders the supposition very probable that domestic 

 animals are infected by diseased rats (possibly also mice), although the 

 possibility that the infection of the various species of animals may occur 

 simultaneously through a common source cannot be excluded. 



Literature. Aujeszky, Cbl. f. Bakt., 1902, XXXII, 353. — ^Marek, Jahresber. 

 d. Hoehschule Budapest, 1902-03, 1908-09.— Hutyra, B. t. W., 1910, 149.— Bchmied- 

 hoffer, Kozl., 1910. 



Epizootic of Cats with Nervous Manifestations. Mori observed 

 an epizootic of cats in Siena which commences with sudden severe 

 excitement, when the animal becomes frightened, and with widely opened 

 eyes runs up and down, turns in a circle, and finally collapses as if 

 paralyzed, passing urine involuntarily. On the following days depres- 

 sion and coma alternate, the attacks continually becoming more pro- 

 nounced and of longer duration; further there is a conjunctivitis with 

 paleness of the other mucous membranes, yawning, difficult respiration, 

 accumulation of feces in the colon, and relaxation of the. anus. The 

 autopsy revealed in one case a marked swelling, softening and hyper- 

 emia of the spleen, fatty degeneration of the liver, as well as dark, 

 fluid blood. 



This disease, the symptoms of which decidedly resemble those of 

 acute lead poisoning (Chyzer), is supposed to be caused by a facultative 

 anaerobic, Gram negative bacillus 0.8-2.0 /* long, having peritriehally 

 arranged flagellae. The bacillus is pathogenic for guinea pigs, rabbits, 

 pigeons and white mice. Feeding one cc. of the culture to a cat re- 

 sulted in an elevation of the temperature, followed later by hypothermia 

 and diarrhea (Cbl. f. Bakt., 1905, XXXVIII, 40.) 



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