ACTINOMYCOSIS OF THE LIPS.
In the rich river bottom lands of northern Germany and Russia where actinomyces abound actinomycosis is common in the form of papillæ of greater or lesser size on the lips and nose of horse and ox. The abrasion of these parts by thorns, thistles, stubble, dry fibrous fodders and other irritants, appears to produce a raw surface for the colonization of the germ, which is not slow to avail of the opportunity. The resulting lesions take the appearance of warty looking elevations, more or less indurated, which on section show the sulphur yellow actinomyces tufts of club-shaped cells converging to a central mycelial mass.
Treatment is simple as the disease is at first essentially local, and is easily checked by the local application of iodine. The wartlike elevations may be shaved off with a razor or cut off with sharp scissors and the surface painted once or twice daily with tincture of iodine. If there is suspicion of distant or deepseated actinomycosis the internal treatment with potassium iodide will be in order.