NODULE DISEASE. 



203 



dition of the sheep as to vitality and resisting power. There may 

 be something of an inflammation of the bowels while the young 

 worms are passing through the lining of the intestine, but the 

 mam injury is that of starvation. So large a portion of the bowel 

 is diseased by the parasites when they are present in great number 

 that there is not enough healthy tissue to absorb the food material. 

 A badly infested sheep may have plenty of good food and yet be 

 too weak to eat it or if able to eat, he may still be starving because 

 the intestinal wall can not take up the food that may be ready for 

 absorption. 



FIG. 74. NODULE DISEASE. (M. II. R.) 

 Intestines of sheep. 



Older sheep suffer worse, as a rule, because the longer an in- 

 fected animal lives the worse the intestines become diseased by the 

 parasites. 



Diagnosis. — This can only be made by finding the character- 

 istic nodules in an examination of the dead animal, for sheep in- 

 fested with some other parasitic diseases, show similar symptoms 

 and conditions during life. 



Treatment. — It is probable that but little can be accomplished 

 by medical treatment, because the worms, during a large part of 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



