MALIGNANT CORONITIS. 
273 
MALIGNANT CORONITIS. 
By Coleman Nockolds, M.D., V.S., istU. S. Cavalry, Batangas, P.I. 
I call this trouble “ Malignant Coronitis ” for want of a bet¬ 
ter term. It is a disease in which that part of the foot directly 
under the coronary band becomes inflamed, swells up, and 
eventually bursts, giving rise to a profuse discharge of purulent 
matter. 
During the winter of 1898-99 there occurred an outbreak in 
and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, all classes of horses being 
affected. Whether the etiology of the disease that occurred 
during the winter in Michigan, and that which now exists 
among our troop horses and transportation animals in this por¬ 
tion of the Philippines is identical, I am unable to determine. 
In both instances micrococci and streptococci were very much in 
evidence in the discharges from the affected feet, but, although 
the post human doctors and myself have examined many speci¬ 
mens of discharge from different animals, we have been unable 
to find any specific cause. I11 Michigan we attributed the dis¬ 
ease in question due chiefly to the effects of salt used to melt 
snow upon the trolley tracks, and in part to frost, and the ir¬ 
ritating effects of mud and slush occurring as the result of a 
thaw. There are, of course, neither salt, frost, nor thaws here, 
but this outbreak certainly commenced during the rainy sea¬ 
son, when the animals had to stand in mud from a foot to 
several feet in depth. There is no doubt but what this tropical 
mud is very rich in bacteria of many varieties ; the least scratch 
upon the legs or body of an animal after coming in contact with 
this mud usually turns into an unhealthy ulcer. 
As mentioned, this disease first attacked the feet of several 
horses and mules during the rainy season, which ended in No. 
vember, and it is now April, and we have had but little rain 
since November, but every now and then a fresh case occurs 
among the troop horses or transportation animals. The first 
sign noticed is a slight lameness, soon a swelling appears 
on the coronary band, generally well along towards the heel. 
