e various symptoms there
may be much uneasiness on the part of the animal, leading in some cases to
madness and furious delirium, in others to spasms and convulsions or
paralysis. A vesicular eruption of the skin may occur, seen principally
between the toes and on the inside of the flank and in the armpits, with
subsequent loss of hair and epidermis.
Like other infectious diseases, malignant catarrh pursues a longer or
shorter course in accordance with the severity of the attack. In acute
cases death is said to take place three to seven days after the appearance
of symptoms. Recovery, if it occurs, may take three or four weeks.
According to statistics, from 50 to 90 per cent of the affected animals
die.
If animals which have died of this disease are examined, in addition to the
changes of the mucous membrane of mouth and nasal cavities referred to
above, shallow ulcers in these situations will be found occasionally. These
necrotic processes may pass beneath the mucous membrane and even involve
the underlying bony structure. In severe cases membranous (croupous)
deposits are found in the throat. Similar deposits have been found upon the
mucous membrane of the fourth stomach and intestine, which is always
inflamed. There is more or less inflammation of the membranes of the brain,
kidneys, and liver, and some fatty degeneration of the voluntary muscles.
In countries where rinderpest occasionally appears it may be difficult to
distinguish between it and malignant catarrh, owing to a general similarity
of the symptoms. The principal points to be observed in differentiating
between the two are the very slight transmissibility of the latter as
compared with the intense contagiousness of the former, and the tendency of
malignant catarrh to run a more chronic course than rinderpest, which
usually results fatally in a very few days. Only a trained veterinarian who
takes into consideration all the different symptoms and lesions of both
diseases should decide in such cases.
_Treatment._--There is no specific treatment for this affection. Copious
blood letting in the earliest stages has been highly recommended, however,
as this has a tendency to deplete the system and lessen the exudation of
inflammatory products. Antiseptic washes, such as 4 per cent boric-acid
solution to the eyes and Dobell's solution applied to the nose and mouth
with ice poultices over the crest of the head and frontal region, have also
proved efficacious.
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