300 ACUTE GENERAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES 



staring, muzzle dry, abdomen tucked up and the general 

 appearance unthrifty. A common symptom is a short, some- 

 what painful cough emitted when the animals are disturbed 

 or driven from the barn into the outside air. The appetite 

 may be retained. The temperature is elevated and the res- 

 pirations dyspneic. Palpation over the thorax induces pain. 

 On percussion there is dulness in the lower part of the chest, 

 and on auscultation either the sounds of breathing are absent 

 or bronchial tones may be heard. More rarely friction sounds 

 are evident. The patients gradually become weaker, and in 

 most cases either die in one or two weeks, or there develops 

 chronic pulmonary phthisis. 



Prognosis. — The prognosis is uncertain; the mortality varies 

 but averages about 50 per cent. 



Treatment. — The medicinal treatment is symptomatic, as 

 recommended in pneumonia. It is advisable to separate the 

 affected animals from the healthy, to bury deep or cremate 

 the dead, and thoroughly disinfect the barns and premises. 

 As a prophylactic measure, inoculating the calves with blood 

 serum derived from an artificially immunized horse treated 

 with cultures of the bipolar bacillus has been practised with 

 apparent success. 



Hemorrhagic Septicemia of Sheep. — Definition. — Hemor- 

 rhagic septicemia of sheep manifests itself in acute cases as a 

 general septicemia. In subacute and chronic cases it is char- 

 acterized by nasal and eye discharge, also by pleuropneu- 

 monia. It is caused by the Bacterium ovisepticum. 



Occurrence. — The disease occasions among lambs consider- 

 able loss. Older sheep are rarely attacked, and in them the 

 disease assumes a chronic form. Hemorrhagic septicemia of 

 sheep is most common in low, damp, marshy regions. It is 

 rare on high, dry land. Outbreaks occur most generally at 

 the time the lambs are weaned. 



Etiology. — The Bacterium ovisepticum, a variety of the 

 Bacterium bipolaris septicus. It is difficult to cultivate out- 

 side of the body, as it is very apt to die in cultures. 



Natural Infection. — Through the digestive tract, the sheep 

 taking in infected food or water found on the pastures or in 

 contaminated sheepfolds. Young sheep at weaning time are 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



