INTESTINAL PABATUBERCULOSIS 411 



crevices between ragged. Nodules and ulcers do not occur. 

 The mesenteric glands and Peyer's patches are somewhat 

 swollen. 



Symptoms. — As a rule only adult cattle are affected, 

 although occasionally it may attack yearlings or even younger 

 animals. The disease develops gradually and may go on 

 for a year and not be noticed. The most prominent symp- 

 toms are progressive emaciation and anemia. An inter- 

 mittent diarrhea is an almost constant symptom. The feces 

 are thin, gruel-like, or watery, and discharged without 

 straining. In a few cases there may be no diarrhea, although 

 the emaciation and anemia are present. 



The general condition of the patient gradually becomes 

 bad. The animal grows very weak, the appetite capricious, 

 lactation ceases, the hair coat is dull and erect, the eyes 

 sunken, the body thin and wasted. 



Diagnosis. — As the symptoms are not especially character- 

 istic, in the absence of a necropsy the diagnosis is difficult. 

 The microscopic examination of the feces and scrapings 

 from the wall of the rectum for the specific bacillus is helpful, 

 but not very reliable, as often the rectum is not involved 

 and from the feces usually only a few bacilli can be obtained 

 which must be differentiated from tubercle bacilli and non- 

 pathogenic acid-fast bacteria. 



O. Bang recommends testing the suspected cattle with 

 tuberculin prepared from avian tubercle bacilli. Cattle 

 affected with Johne's disease react to this form of tuberculin 

 somewhat as do tubercular cattle to bovine tuberculin. The 

 postinfection temperatures may reach as high as 105.8° F. 

 As a rule, however, the postinjection temperatures are lower 

 than in tuberculosis. Often associated with the rise in tem- 

 perature occur constitutional disturbances, such as chill, 

 diarrhea, etc. While tubercular cattle react to avian tuber- 

 culin, those 'affected with Johne's disease do not react to 

 bovine tuberculin. It is recommendable, therefore, to em- 

 ploy both tuberculins in suspected cases that tubercu- 

 losis be excluded. By thus testing and destroying the 

 reactors the disease has been eradicated from a few herds in 

 England. 



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