Symptoms, Course, Prognosis. 849 



of the weakness of the abdominal and body muscles. There is polyuria, 

 in which a very pale watery urine of low specific gravity is passed; 

 sometimes profuse salivation is present. In acute cases the autopsy 

 may reveal a gastro-intestinal inflammation. 



Course. Great losses of blood may produce death inside 

 of a few hours,_ or even in a few minutes, while the duration 

 of chronic anemia may extend to several months and even years. 

 This occurs especially in anemia which develops in association 

 with chronic diseases. Ascites of sheep and cattle lasts at 

 least from 3 to 6 months or even longer, but some animals may 

 die in a shorter time. The last mentioned short course may 

 however be only apparent if the first indications escape de- 

 tection. 



Diagnosis. The recognition of anemia causes, as a rule, 

 no difficulty. It may be confounded, especially on a single 

 examination, with pronounced weakness of the heart and a 

 general collapse of the blood vessels which result also in a 

 conspicuous paleness of the peripheric parts of the body. 

 Simple anemia is distinguished from pseudo-leukemia or from 

 leukemia by the normal condition of the blood-forming organs, 

 and also by the condition of the white blood corpuscles. Fur- 

 ther the milder cases may be distinguished from pernicious 

 anemia by the normal appearance of the blood corpuscles, on 

 the other hand from the severe cases by the absence of giganto- 

 icytes and gigantoblasts, as well as by the severe general affec- 

 tion. In horses infectious anemia should also be taken into 

 consideration. 



In all cases of anemia however it should be aimed to de- 

 termine the fundamental affections, the recognition of which is 

 of great value from a prognostic and therapeutic standpoint. 



Prognosis. The acute anemia which develops after great 

 losses of blood terminates with suitable nutrition of the animal 

 almost without exception in a relatively short time in recovery. 

 By the ingestion of large amounts of water the blood attains 

 within a few days its original quantity, the salts and the proteids. 

 being rapidly replaced from the food. Only the replacement 

 of the red blood corpuscles requires a longer time, up to several 

 weeks ; after exceedingly large losses of blood the recovery may 

 require even several months, and may not follow at all even 

 after suitable treatment. If the animal has lost at least hq,lf 

 of the normal quantity of its blood within a short time, thgrg 

 exists no longer any hope for its improvement. 



The prognosis of chronic anemia depends on the natur© 

 of the fundamental affection. In the independent forms hoW' 

 .ever the prognosis depends, not only upon the degree of anemia, 

 ibut also upon the condition that the cause of the disease ig 

 ^capable of removal, although under favorable conditions the 

 (disease usually terminates in recovery, the course of an already 



Vol. 1—54 



