Part 19

In view of the frequent persistence of this malady in a given stable for a great length of time, successive animals being attacked at long intervals, and where isolation was impracticable, Beckmann rubbed the nasal discharges of the sick on the nasal mucosa of the unaffected, producing the disease almost invariably in a mild form. The infected animals were placed in the best hygienic conditions, the duration of the infection was shortened, and the horses being rendered immune, the stable was then disinfected with a satisfactory result.

Schütz, Hill, Pilz and a number of others have sought artificial immunity, by the injection of blood serum from a horse that has recently recovered from the malady. The results were very contradictory. In some cases the disease came to a sudden end. In other stables no new cases appeared either in those treated with serum or in those left without treatment. In other experiments, new cases occurred among those treated with the serum;—in Weishaupt’s cases after a lapse of one or two months. This is exactly what might be expected. If the horse supplying the blood serum had really recovered, and if the microbes (streptococci) had disappeared from the blood, the latter would of necessity retain little of the toxins, but much more of the antitoxins, the active production of which would be continued by the stimulated leucocytes. These antitoxins would neutralize the toxins, in case of invasion and prevent that from reaching the maximum of intensity that it would otherwise have reached, but would be powerless to stimulate the leucocytes of the inoculated animal into the habit of themselves producing antitoxins. This would act rather as a curative than a prophylactic agent, and its value would be spent as soon as the injected antitoxins were eliminated from the system.

The true line of inquiry would have been, whether injection of the toxins, which acting on the leucocytes would have stimulated these to the habit of producing antitoxins in large amount, might not be expected to give an immunity as lasting as that which follows on a casual attack of the disease. Lignieres appears to have approximated to this, in his experiments on mice and rabbits. In horses suffering from contagious pneumonia it lowered the temperature, but did not materially affect the result of the attack. If we adhere to Lignieres’ own theory of causation by cocco-bacillus and later by streptococcus or some other complicating infection, we can scarcely hope that the toxins of the streptococcus or other complicating microbe will immunize against the cocco-bacillus or mutually against each other. If complete protection is aimed at, the toxins of his cocco-bacillus, and of Schütz’s streptococcus, and of any other possible microbe which may produce a secondary complication, ought to be employed.

At the date of this writing no satisfactory sero-therapy for this disease has been worked out and publicly demonstrated.

INFECTIOUS STABLE BRONCHITIS. SCALMA.

Definition. An infectious inflammation, of the upper air passages and bronchia, attended by high fever, special nervous irritability and a protracted convalescence.

Dieckerhoff gave the name scalma (rogue) to outbreaks in given stables of an infection, showing the high temperature of brustseuche, (104° to 107° F.) a similar incubation (6 to 7 days), a correspondingly tardy extension from animal to animal, and duration of the disease. The apparent differences are in the absence of the profound dulness, the yellowness of the mucosæ, and the yellow or rusty nasal discharge, in the ready response to the voice or touch, the disposition to bite or kick, the spasms of the larynx and sudden dyspnœa, in certain cases, and the paroxysmal cough in others. Apart from these transient respiratory troubles the pulse and breathing are unaffected, relatively to the elevation of temperature. Sometimes the jaws are kept in constant motion, from nervousness or pharyngeal trouble.

In the absence of any conclusive bacteriological investigation, it may be surmised that this is a form of brustseuche which has not advanced to the same grade of destruction of red globules and prostration of the nerve centres, the latter showing only an excited and irritable condition.

Treatment and prevention do not differ materially from what is required in contagious pneumonia. The irritable cough may be soothed by inhalations of warm water vapor, with alcohol, camphor, eucalyptol, or opium, or electuaries of bromides, belladonna or stramonium, and local derivatives to the throat.

Most cases are mild and recover in a week, the cough lasting for two weeks more.

OTHER INFECTIOUS PNEUMONIAS OF THE HORSE.

Claims have been made for infections by a variety of other germs which it would be difficult or unreasonable to deny. In given conditions of the horse’s lung it may succumb to the attacks of pathogenic microörganisms which at other times or under other conditions would be practically harmless. Thus the round ended bacillus of Friedländer is claimed by Jacquot and others to cause one form of pneumonia in the horse as it does in man (Vol. 1 p. 216). Again Galtier and Violet have claimed a form of pneumonia transmitted through musty or spoilt fodders and attacking the bowels as well as the lungs (pneumo-enteritis). Two micro-organisms are accused, a diplococcus and streptococcus, which is strongly suggestive of the now familiar germ of brustseuche.

EQUINE INFLUENZA. ADYNAMIC CATARRHAL FEVER OF SOLIPEDS.

Synonyms. Definition. Historic notes. Equine influenza of 1872–3; its indication of infection. Other evidence: through stables, cars, manure, clothes, coition, inoculation. Bacteriology: streptococci; diplococci; cocco-bacillus, latter pathogenic to rodents, dog, cat, sheep, pig, ox, ass, pigeon, chicken. Inoculations on horse. Present in early stages only. Uncertainty. Accessory causes: chill, electric tension, high barometer, impure air, overwork, poor feeding, season, youth, primary susceptibility, acquired immunity. Incubation 1 to 3 days. Symptoms: Forms: sudden attack, anorexia, profound prostration, weakness, hyperthermia, epiphora, brownish red conjunctiva, pulse, heart beats, catarrhal symptoms, thoracic, pulmonary, pleuritic, cardiac, digestive, urinary, diarrhœal, ophthalmic, nervous, rheumatoid; complications, abortion, laminitis, strangles, contagious pneumonia, cerebro-spinal meningitis, etc. Lesions: inflammation of mucosæ of nose and air passages with blood unaffected; in severe attacks, with heart clots, or later with blood black, diffluent, red globules crenated or dissolved, without viscidity or rouleaux, reddish serum, and hæmatoidin in masses, acid reaction, petechiæ; congestion of mouth, stomach, small intestines or large,—ulcers, tumid follicles, peritoneal effusion, enlarged congested mesenteric glands; liver as if parboiled, with petechiæ and necrosis; spleen large and gorged; kidneys infiltrated, mottled, petechiated, swollen; may be meningeal or ophthalmic congestion; pulmonary lesions, pleural effusions, adhesions, infiltrations, consolidations, infarctions, sequestra. Diagnosis: sudden attack, great numbers attacked, marked prostration, conjunctivitis, great hyperthermia, digestive disorder, evidence of infection. Table comparing croupous and contagious pneumonia and influenza. Prognosis. Mortality low,—high in some epizoötics, in horses kept at work, under bad hygiene. Treatment: good diet and hygiene, rest, shelter, stimulating diuretics and diaphoretics, venesection, antipyretics, alkaline eliminants, inhalants—water medicated, derivatives, collyria, guarded laxatives, antiseptics, cardiac stimulants, nerve sedatives, tonics, transfusion of blood, normal salt solution,—technique. Prevention: quarantine difficult, yet possible; examples, applicability to countries, to districts, lines of restriction.

Synonyms. Epizoötic Catarrh; Catarrhal Fever; Nervous Fever; Epizoötic; Rheumatic Catarrh; Cocotte; Gastro-enteric Epizoötic; Gastro-entero-nephro-hepatitis; Gastro-Conjunctivitis; Gastro-Hepato-meningitis; Entero-pneumo-carditis; Pink eye; Epizoötic Cellulitis; Typhose; Typhoid Fever; Blitz Catarrh; LaGrippe; Septicæmia Hæmorrhagica etc.

Definition. An infectious fever of solipeds, of a specially low or adynamic type, and with a tendency to localization on the respiratory or gastro-intestinal mucosa, on the eyes, lungs, pleura, heart, liver, kidneys, subcutaneous connective tissue, joints, fascia, or nervous system.

This disease was long confounded with the influenza of man and while compelled for the identification of the affection, to retain this name in combination with the qualification equine, yet we would prefer to discard it entirely as conveying the idea that the illness is caused by Pfeiffer’s bacillus, which it is not. The term typhoid fever which is in common use in France, has been selected to convey the impression of its two prominent features of hyperthermia and stupor. But it is open to the same objection for it has been long applied to a specific disease in man having its own bacillus which is not present in the equine influenza. Septicæmia Hæmorrhagica which has been adopted more lately, however correct it may be as indicating the tendency of the local lesions has a generic meaning rather than a specific one, and requires much more qualification to correctly designate the disease. The term adynamic catarrhal fever of solipeds has this recommendation, that it expresses the prostration and debility which is such a marked feature of the disease, its great tendency to become localized on mucous surfaces, and the genus of animals that prove its victims. A better designation is still desirable and may perhaps be reached, when the pathogenic microbe shall be demonstrated beyond question.

Historic Notes. Among catarrhal fevers and epizoötics of early times it is impossible to distinguish this from widespread nasal and bronchial catarrhs, and from contagious pneumonia (brustseuche), yet when the epizoötic attained a sudden and wide extension without any direct climatic cause, the presumption is in favor of the disease now before us. Hints are obtained from Titus Livius of a Sicilian equine epizoötic of this kind 412 B. C. This is corroborated by an account by Hippocrates of a similar outbreak in Greece. Later, Virgil (Georgics), Columella, Absyrtus and Vegetius give similar hints. In 1299 in Seville horses suffered with drooping head, watery eyes, beating flanks and anorexia and 1000 died (Laurentius Rusius). The horses of the French Army in Germany suffered severely in 1648 (Solleysel), horses in England in 1688 (Short, Rutty), again in 1693 (Webster, Short, Foster) and again in 1699 (Webster). In 1712 horses suffered extensively in Europe (Lancisi, Kanold) and in 1727–8 in England and Ireland (Rutty), in 1732–3 (Arbuthnot, Gibson) and again in 1736–7 (Short). Other such equine epizoötics are recorded for Europe in 1729 (Löw), for Ireland in 1746 and 1750–1 (Rutty, Osmer), for Europe and the British Isles in 1760 (Bieset, Rutty, Webster), and again in 1762 (Rutty, Webster) and 1767 (Forster), also in America (Webster), in Europe in 1776 (Fothergill etc.), in Europe and Asia in 1780–2 (Gluge), in England in 1798 (Wilkinson, White), in Europe and England in 1814–15 (Heusinger, Wilkinson, Youatt), in England in 1819, 1823 (Field) and 1827 (Brown), in Europe in 1833 (Prinz, Wilkinson, Hayes, Spooner), 1834 (Hensinger), 1835–6 (Prinz, Friedberger), 1840, 1846, 1851, 1852, 1862, 1870, 1873, 1881, 1883, 1890, 1891, 1892 (Friedberger).

In the United States as in Europe the affection has in the main smoldered in the large cities in ordinary years, to break out without obvious cause, in given years into an advancing epizoötic which sweeps the whole continent. Such were the great outbreaks in Europe in 1881 to 1883, and in America in 1872–3, and 1900 to 1901. The great recrudescence of the disease in North America in 1872–3 was so remarkable in its progress and limitations that it seems desirable to recal its more prominent historic features. The unquestionable demonstration of the microbe of the affection may make such a record superfluous, but until then, and so long as books are published which attribute the disease to the environment, or to the soil, it is not altogether unnecessary.

PROGRESS OF EQUINE INFLUENZA OF 1872–3.

Last week of September, 1872. Toronto, Ontario; (30th) and neighborhood.

First 2 Weeks of October. Barrie, Collingwood, Owen Sound, Guelph, Ont.; St. John, N. B. (13th); Niagara Falls, (11th), N. Y.; Montreal (8), Ottawa (12th), Stratford, Brantford, London, Can.; Buffalo, N. Y. (14th); Detroit, Mich. (13th).

Third Week in October. Goodrich, Kingston, (19th), Ont.; Rochester (18th), Syracuse, Lockport, Canandaigua, Geneva, Albany, (19th), Ogdensburg, (21st), New York, (21st) N. Y.; Bangor, Me.; Port Huron, Mich.

After Third Week in October. Quebec, (28th) Can.; Utica, (29th), Watertown, Oswego, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs, Poughkeepsie (28th), Elmira, Binghamton, (28th), Jamestown, Ithaca, (31st), Port Jervis (29th), Nyack, N. Y., (30th); Revere, (22d); Springfield, (23d), Worcester, (27th), Fall River, New Bedford, Mass.; Waterbury, (27th), Norwich, (23d), New Haven, Hartford, Conn.; Providence, (23d), Newport, R. I.; Burlington, (26th), St. Albans, Vt.; Concord, Nashua, Portsmouth, (23d), N. H.; Bath, (28th), Portland, Me.; Philadelphia, (26th), Harrisburg, Lancaster, York, Erie, Corry, Titusville, (28th), Pittsburg, (29th), Pa.; Baltimore, (25th), Md.; Washington, D. C., (28th); Norfolk, (31st), Richmond, Va.; Cleveland, O.; Chicago, (29th) Ill.

First Week of November. Kingston, N. Y., (1st); Rutland, Vt., (3d); Meadville, (2d), Pottsville, Williamsport, (6th), Reading, Easton, Bethlehem, Pa.; Trenton, N. J., (2d); Wilmington, Del., (6th); Jackson, Mich., (7th); Milwaukee, Wis.; Raleigh, N. C.; Charleston, S. C., (4th).

Second Week in November. Scranton, Pa., (13th); Lynchburg, Va., (11th); Wheeling, (13th), Parkersburg, W. Va.; Dayton, Sandusky, Toledo, O.; Adrian, Kalamazoo, (9th), Grand Haven, Mich. (8th); Davenport, Ia., (14th); Janesville, Green Bay, Wis.; Louisville, Ky., (9th); Wilmington, N. C., (12th); Columbia, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.

Third Week in November. Steubenville, (15th), Columbus, (16th), Zanesville, (16th), Springfield, O.; Indianapolis, (17th), Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Evansville, (21st), Ind.; Bloomington, Galena, (21st), Ill.; Dubuque, Iowa City, Ia.; Madison, Fond du Lac, Wis.; St. Paul, Minn.; Memphis, Nashville, Chatanooga, Tenn.; Augusta, Atlanta, Ga.; Helena, Fort Smith, Ark.; Havana, Cuba, (20th).

In November after third Week. Terre Haute, Madison, Ind.; Peoria, Galesburg, Ill.; Keokuk, Muscatine, Des Moines, Ia.; Paducah, Ky.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Charlotte, New Berne, N.C.; Macon, Rome, Columbus, Ga.; Jacksonville, Lake City, Fla.; Mobile, Montgomery, Selma, Ala.; Natchez, Vicksburg, Miss.; New Orleans, (25th), La.; Galveston, (29th), Houston, (28th), Tex.; Little Rock, Ark.