The only treatment which appears to have achieved any degree of success is that of injecting physiological salt solution in large doses (up to six quarts per day, divided into three parts). All the animals treated by this method recovered, provided they presented no broncho-pulmonary complications.
The sole inconvenience of this treatment is the difficulty in carrying it out when the animals are at a distance from the practitioner. It is indispensable that they should be close at hand, in order that he himself may make the injections at the proper time. There is some reason for hoping, however, that serum from animals which have recovered will prove to be more active than saline injections.
This method of treatment should be followed up by the most rigid hygienic precautions. The mouth, nasal cavities and eyes should frequently be washed with antiseptic solutions. The stables should be freely ventilated, and the floors and bed kept in the cleanest possible condition, etc.
Whenever a case of gangrenous coryza is observed it should be isolated, and the stables should most carefully be disinfected.
TUMOURS OF THE NASAL CAVITIES.
Apart from actinomycosis of the upper jaw, tumours of the nasal cavities or of the sinuses are not frequent in bovine animals. They are, however, occasionally met with, and present symptoms which must be carefully studied in order to avoid errors of diagnosis. Usually they are of the nature of myxomata, more rarely of fibro-myxomata.
Fig. 167.—Transverse section through the nasal cavities near their centre (normal).
Symptoms. The dominant symptom is difficulty in breathing, both when moving and eating, a difficulty which is sometimes so considerable as to cause snoring respiration or roaring. Nevertheless, examination of the trachea and of the lung, visual examination of the lower portions of the nasal cavities, and manual examination of the pharynx, larynx and glottis give only negative results. It may even happen, as occurred in the case from which the illustration herewith was taken, that percussion of the maxillary sinus reveals normal resonance.
In the case of tumours of small size the forehead is not deformed. When, on the other hand, the tumour partly obstructs the nasal cavities it may thrust on one side the septum nasi and externally cause well-marked asymmetry of the face. Sero-mucous or muco-purulent discharge then occurs.