Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others].

Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Special report on diseases of the horse / by Drs. Pearson [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    607/690 (page 525)
    Symptoms.—There is a period of incubation, after an animal has been exposed, of from five to eight days, during which there is no appreciable alteration in the health. This period is shorter in summer than in winter. At the end of this time small nodes develop at the point of inoculation and the animal becomes feverish. The horse is dull and dejected, loses its appetite, and has a rough dry coat with the hairs on end. There is moderate thirst. The respirations are some- what quickened and the pulse becomes rapid and full. The body temperature is elevated, frequently reaching 104° or 105° F. within thirty-six or forty-eight hours from the appearance of the first s}Tmptoms. The visible mucous membranes, especially the conjunctive, are of a bright rosy red. In the lymphatic, cold-blooded, and more common horses these symptoms of fever are less marked; even with a compara- tively high temperature the animal may retain its appetite and even work comparatively well, but these cases, if worked and overheated, are apt to develop serious complications. At the end of from three and a half to four days the eruption breaks out, the fever abates, and the general symptoms improve. The erup- tion in severe cases may be generalized; it may be confined to the softer skin of the nose and lips, the genital organs, and the inside of the thighs, or it may be localized in the neighborhood of a wound or in the irritated skin of a pair of greasy heels. It consists of a vary- ing number of little nodes which, on a mucous membrane, as in the nostrils or vagina, or on soft unpigmented skin, appear red and feel at first like shot under the epidermis. These nodes soften and show a yellowish spot in the center when the}7 become pustules. The epider- mis is dissolved and the matter escapes as a viscid fluid at first citrine and later cloudy and purulent, which dries rapidly, forming scabs; if these fall off or are removed they leave a little shallow concave ulcer which heals in the course of five or six days. In the softer skin if pigmented the cicatrices are white and frequently remain so for about a year, when the pigment returns. The lips or genital organs of a colored horse, if covered with a number of small white spots about the size of a pea, will usually indicate that the animal has been affected with the horsepox. At times the pustules may become confluent and produce large super- ficial serpentine ulcers on the membrane of the nostrils, around the lips or e}7elids, or on the borders of wounds and in greasy heels; in this case the part becomes swollen, hot, painful, and is covered with a profuse discharge of matter. In this form there is frequently a sec- ondary fever lasting for a day or two. In severe cases there may be a suppurative adenitis, or inflammation of the lymphatic glands which are fed from the affected part. If the eruption is around the nostrils and lips, the glands between the jaws