PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT i5 q 



The use of intermittent, elastic pressure, as by the application of 

 a flannel bandage cut on the bias over padding of oakum, each 

 night, and the employment of alternate bathing in hot and cold 

 water, massage, and walking exercise are the most efficient meas- 

 ures in the earlier stages. 



Mycotic, or Epizootic, or African Lymphangitis of 

 Horses, Benign, Pseudo- or Japanese Farcy. — Mycotic lmy- 

 phangitis exists in many parts of the United States and in our 

 insular possessions, although first discovered in the United States 

 by Pearson in Pennsylvania in 1907. The disease is infectious 

 but does not cause widespread outbreaks, so that it is not strictly 

 epizootic in character. It is due to a yeast-like fungus — Sacch- 

 aromyces ( Crypt ococcus) farciminosis — which occurs as ovoid 

 bodies, pointed at both ends, or rounded at one pole and pointed 

 at the other, highly refractile, and having a double contour. They 

 may be readily seen in fresh smears with a power of 400 or 500. 

 The fungus stains with the Gram method, or that of Claudius 

 with 1 per cent, methyl violet for two minutes ; wash ; place in one- 

 half saturated solution of picric acid for thirty seconds; decolorize 

 in chloroform ; treat with xylol and mount in Canada balsam. Agar 

 tubes inoculated with infected pus show growth in about ten days. 

 The skin is the starting point of infection through abrasions, 

 wounds, and insect bites. The period of incubation is from several 

 weeks to three or more months. 



Symptoms. — Enlarged lymph nodes and corded lymphatics, 

 with general swelling or stocking of the limb, appear on one or 

 both hind legs. The enlarged lymph nodes vary in size from a 

 bean to a hen's egg. The fore limbs, neck, shoulder, rump, scrotum 

 and udder are less frequent seats of the disease. The glandular 

 swellings are first hard but later soften and break down into ab- 

 scess and finally ulcers, discharging yellow, creamy pus and filled 

 with exuberant or fungoid granulations. Abscess formation may 

 occur also in the connective tissue and bones and pyemia conditions 



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