OMPHALO PHLEBITIS. 
753 
OMPHALO PHLEBITIS. 
By John L. Tyler, M.D., Chebanse, Ill. 
(A paper read before the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association.) 
In essaying to write upon this subject, I do so more for in¬ 
formation and to bring out an expression from the profession 
than with any thought of contributing anything worthy of note. 
The disease consists chiefly of an inflammation of the umbili¬ 
cal vein, which often involves the surrounding tissues, followed 
by suppuration and pyaemia. The inflammation commences 
soon after birth, and I haVe noticed in the majority of my cases 
that there was also persistence of the urachus as a complication. 
The stump of the cord is swollen, painful and moist, and after 
the disease is fully developed, a discharge of pus is seen issuing 
from the navel, and you can also pass a probe high up the vein. 
1 he colt is dull, stands with its back arched, and refuses to 
nurse. The respiration is hurried, the temperature ranges from 
io 3 u to 104° F., and there is constipation. 
Another complication, which is always or nearly always 
present, and appears after the disease has been running several 
days, is arthritis, and usually the hock joints are the ones first 
attacked The presence of this complication I am unable to 
explain, unless it is from thrombu lodging in the joints and pro¬ 
ducing thrombosis. This might be, as there is always more or 
less of a thrombotic condition of the omphalic vein, and a little 
piece being broken off might be carried through the circulation 
and lodged in the joints and produce this condition. But why 
the especial selection of the joints ? I have found in several post¬ 
mortems abscesses in the liver, due, no doubt, to infection 
through the vein which runs almost direct to that organ ; also 
that the vein was filled with foetid puss, and in some cases I 
have found symptoms of peritonitis, while in others this symp¬ 
tom was lacking. 
The liver is usually enlarged, anaemic and nodulated, and 
the points that I have opened are filled with thick, creamy pus. 
1 he causes of this disease are numerous, such as irritation 
