86 DISEASES OF THE MOUTH 



behind erosions which usually heal in about a week. In 

 horses healing may be delayed several weeks. The patients 

 are usually "mouth shy," slobber, and show impaired 

 appetite. A mild fever has been noted in some outbreaks. 



Course. — The course is rapid and benign. 



Diagnosis. — In horses vesicular stomatitis might be con- 

 fused with contagious pustular stomatitis. In this latter 

 disease, however, pustules appear, the eruption of which 

 occurs simultaneously and frequently involves the exter- 

 nal skin of the nostrils and lips. In the ox tbe disease 

 is distinguished from foot-and-mouth disease by its feeble 

 infectiveness (animal inoculation), slow spread and the 

 absence of fever and foot lesions. 



Treatment. — The same as in catarrhal stomatitis. 



Papulous Stomatitis. — Definition. — A benign, contagious 

 disease of the mouth of cattle, due to an ultramicroscopic 

 virus and characterized by an eruption in the mucosa and 

 skin around the mouth of yellowish-gray, flattened papules. 

 Probably does not occur in the United States. 



Etiology. — An ultramicroscopic virus. The disease is 

 readily transmitted to healthy animals by inoculation into . 

 the mucous membrane of the mouth, subcutaneously and 

 intravenously. The mode of natural transmission is not yet 

 known. 



Symptoms. — The period of incubation is one to two weeks. 

 The nodular eruption may involve the muzzle, lips (outer 

 and inner surface), palate, tongue, cheeks, and gums. The 

 nodules are from the size of a wheat grain to a small pea, 

 are at first red and later grayish-yellow in color. Around 

 each nodule is an area of congestion. In the latter stages 

 the centres undergo softening, irregular-shaped pits form- 

 ing. The bases of the pits are granular, at first red or 

 black and later yellow in color. By coalescence large 

 areas (dollar-sized) appear. The condition may persist for 

 several weeks. There is usually no general, disturbance, 

 although in isolated cases fever and fetid breath have been 

 observed. 



Diagnosis. — The peculiar, flattened nodules which appear 

 not only in the mucous membrane, but also on the external 



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