MENINGOENCEPHALITIS • 219 



head may feel warm; striking it lightly with a percussion 

 hammer causes the patient to wince. The papilla of the eye 

 is intensely congested. 



Topical symptoms in meningo-encephalitis are rare in 

 animals. They consist in spasms of the eye muscles (nystag- 

 mus) or a deviation of one of the eyes from its proper direction 

 (strabismus) ; the pupil may be fixed or react slowly to light; 

 quite frequently the pupils are of unequal size; spasms of the 

 masseter muscles causing gnashing of the teeth or even 

 trismus; the muscles of the lips, nose, ears and -neck may 

 also show spasmodic contractions. Paralysis of peripheral 

 parts such as the pharynx, tongue and the lids occasionally 

 occur. Hemiplegia is a rarer consequence. 



Fever is usually noted in the beginning of the disease. 

 If the temperature remains high during the latter stages,, 

 it is probably due to septic infection or pneumonia which may 

 complicate the disease. 



The appetite is impaired or suppressed and the prehension 

 of food unphysiological, the animal eating and drinking much 

 as does a "dummy." 



Course. — The disease develops in two or three days. It 

 may develop suddenly with symptoms of excitement and 

 violence followed by those of mental depression and stupor, 

 the animal dying in less than a day. In other cases the de- 

 velopment is much slower, the animal showing no very pro- 

 nounced symptoms but seems mentally perturbed, shows 

 impaired appetite, expressionless countenance, labored loco- 

 motion, etc., symptoms which in two or three weeks attain 

 a higher degree. Tubercular meningitis in cattle usually 

 assumes a subacute course and develops slowly. In some 

 cases improvement is followed by a relapse. Meningo- 

 encephalitis is not infrequently complicated by pneumonia 

 (hypostatic or foreign body), septicemia, or pyemia. 



Diagnosis. — The diagnosis depends upon the history of 

 some infection, the symptoms of rapidly increasing disturb- 

 ance in consciousness, the eye symptoms (pupils of unequal 

 size, strabismus, nystagmus, congestion of the papilla), 

 trismus, and sensitiveness of the poll. Where these symptoms 

 are vague the diagnosis is extremely difficult. 



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