8 DISEASES OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



the result of the invasion of the fungus is the production of 

 a chronic inflammation. The fungi are surrounded by a mass of 

 round cells and there is proliferation of connective tissue. The 

 granulation tissue thus formed (infective granuloma) either 

 breaks down into puriform matter, or connective tissue formation 

 predominates and a hard, fibrous tumor or calcification results. 

 The tumors thus produced vary in consistency and size and 

 affect the jaws, parotid glands, tongue, pharynx and larynx, and 

 soft parts about the head. In certain countries special forms are 

 more common: In England, "wooden tongue "; in Denmark, dis- 

 ease of the soft parts of the head; in Prussia, disease of the lips. 



Invasion of the upper and lower maxillary bones is one of the 

 most serious and common forms in this country. The bones become 

 much thickened and porous and the invasion may begin in the mar- 

 row or periosteum, or in soft parts about these bones. Finally a 

 fungus-like growth breaks through the skin or into the mouth. 

 In " wooden tongue " the growth in this organ renders it hard, 

 painfully swollen and stiff so that its action is greatly impeded and 

 it protrudes from the mouth and there is an excessive flow of 

 saliva. 



Actinomycosis of the pharynx appears as broad-based or poly- 

 poid tumors in the mouth, originating from involvement of sub- 

 mucous glands. 



In the soft parts of the head, tumors, from the size of a nut to 

 an egg, may develop and break through the skin as reddish, fung- 

 ous-like patches covered with a thin slough, or may discharge 

 creamy pus from an abscess cavity, and later the cavity becomes 

 filled with a fungous growth. 



Actinomycosis may suggest tuberculous lesions, but if the 

 growth is cut into the characteristic sulphur-colored granules may 

 be seen with the naked eye or by a magnifying glass, as they are 

 about 1-50 of an inch in diameter. These are the fungi and are 

 imbedded in cellular masses in a meshwork of connective tissue. 



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