HOG CHOLERA AND SWINE PLAGUE. 



217 



is usually a loss of appetite, although in some very acute cases the 

 appetite may remain good until the end. The chronic cases lose 

 flesh rapidly, and sometimes show extreme disturbance of the ner- 

 vous system, exhibited in partial or complete paralysis of the 

 hind parts, or extreme nervousness. Cough is usually short and 

 hacking. Occasionally constipation appears' among the earliest 

 symptoms, but is usually not noticed by the owners ; later, diarrhea 

 appears. In some of the very acute cases which appear at the 

 beginning of an outbreak the animals die very suddenly ; some- 

 times before the owner realizes that they are sick. Later in the 

 history of the disease, as it appears in a herd, the cases tend to 

 assume a more chronic type. 



If the swine plague infec- 

 tion is marked, the coughing and 

 shortness of breath are the most 

 prominent symptoms. If the case 

 is more nearly typical hog chol- 

 era, the bowel symptoms are 

 more prominent. 



Sometimes quite large por- 

 tions of skin and underlying 

 muscular tissue die and slough 

 off, leaving large sores. This ap- 

 pears more commonly, perhaps, 

 around the neck, head, and back 



FIG. 78. HOG CHOLERA— SWINE 

 PLAGUE. (M. II. R.) 

 Haemorrhages (dark spots) on 

 d i a p h r a g m. Haemorrhages are 

 characteristic of swine plague. 



Hog cholera post mortem.— 



than elsewhere. 



In hog cholera the skin on ex- 

 posed parts of the body where the hair is thin, like the flanks and 

 inside of the fore legs and thighs, mav be deep red or purple. 

 Blood-stained spots may be usually found in the fatty tissue under 

 the skin and on the internal organs. The lungs may show evi- 

 dences of pneumonia. The lymphatic glands in the mesentery 

 appear deeply congested. 



When the large intestine is split open, dark spots, more or 

 less blood-stained, or even clots of blood, are to be seen upon the 

 lining membrane when the disease has been of the very acute 

 type. The more chronic cases show peculiar and very charac- 

 teristic ulcers in the lining membrance of the large intestines, and 



Vet. Studies— 14. 



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