Fig. 191.—Dorsal view of larva of Boophilus annulatus of North America. Greatly enlarged. (Stiles, Ann. Rep., U.S.A. Bur. An. Ind., 1900, p. 388.)
Nicolle and Adil-Bey (1899) state that it exists in a latent form in European Turkey and Asiatic Turkey; and Lignières (1900), after a series of researches in Argentina, suggests the final solution of the questions which it raises.
Symptoms. Babès describes it as an acute febrile disease, clinically distinguished by the passage of blood-stained urine. The urine is coloured by dissolved hæmoglobin; red blood corpuscles are not found. Smith and Kilborne, and afterwards Stiles, described two forms: an acute, rapidly fatal form, in which the Piroplasma bigeminum is found in the blood of the general circulation, in the spleen and kidneys; and a chronic form, in which, notwithstanding the absence of clinical signs, the parasites may be discovered in the blood under the form of diplococci.
Lignières describes a grave and a benignant form. The grave form is indicated by dulness, loss of appetite, and considerable fever. In twenty-four hours the temperature rises to 104° or 105° Fahr., and the pulse to 100 or 120 per minute, while the respiration is greatly accelerated.
The urine is of a light-red or brownish-red colour, resembling coffee-grounds, but it contains no blood corpuscles. The animals die in from three to eight days with symptoms of asphyxia; but this termination is not inevitable, and recovery may occur spontaneously. Improvement is indicated by a fall in temperature, disappearance of the blood-stained urine, and a return of appetite, together with marked thirst.
Fig. 192.—Ventral view of larva of Boophilus annulatus of North America. Greatly enlarged. (Stiles, Ann. Rep., U.S.A. Bur. An. Ind., 1900, p. 388.)
Drs. Smith and Kilborne describe the symptoms as follows:—“The beast when first observed to be amiss appears to be dull and sluggish, with a disinclination to move, and hence it is generally found apart from the rest of the herd. The hair stands erect like that of an animal on a cold day (a staring coat), the ears hang, and the eyes have a dull and lustreless appearance. In some cases the animals cease to feed, or ruminate, in others they continue to nibble at the herbage until nearly the last, but in a languid, indifferent manner, indicating that they have little relish for their food, and they fall off very rapidly in condition. There is generally a dribbling of saliva from the mouth, the muzzle may appear quite moist during the early stages of the disease, but it invariably becomes dry and crusty as the disease advances. Later on the animal manifests a strong reluctance to move, and when compelled to do so, it walks with a dragging, straddling gait, as if weak across the loins. In severe cases, when the sick beast is left undisturbed, it will remain almost constantly in one place, standing with its head depressed and ears hanging in a drowsy semi-comatose condition, looking the very picture of complete nervous prostration. Other animals will lie down the greater part of the time and scarcely move, and when dead the limbs will be found in their natural position, and the head doubled round on the shoulder as if asleep. On making a post-mortem examination of some of these cases the carcase was found to be pale and bloodless, as if the animal had been bled to death.
