Strains of tendons and tendinitis occur in the front limbs of oxen, particularly of those used in carts. The chief indications are swelling in the region of the cannon bone and fetlock, uneven contour of the flexor tendons, sensibility on pressure, and lameness of varying intensity.
Treatment consists in continuous cold irrigation, massage, the application of a blister or even of the actual cautery. As a rule, however, it is better to rest and fatten the animal.
A frequent complication of such injuries of tendons consists in knuckling over at the fetlock.
PARASITIC DISEASES OF MUSCLES.
INFECTION WITH CYSTICERCI.
Infection of the connective and muscular tissues with cysticerci results from the entry into the body of embryos of Tænia solium and Tænia saginata of man. It occurs in man and almost all animals, but is only of grave clinical importance in the pig and ox.
The following table shows the chief cystic (cestode) parasites of animals, though the cysts are not always confined to muscular structures:—
| Adult. | Larva. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name. | Host. | Name. | Host. |
| Tænia saginata | Man | Cysticercus bovis | Cattle. |
| Tænia solium | Man | Cysticercus cellulosæ | Swine and man. |
| Tænia marginata | Dogs | Cysticercus tenuicollis | Cattle, sheep, and swine. |
| Tænia cœnurus | Dogs | Cœnurus cerebralis | Cattle and sheep. |
| Tænia echinococcus | Dogs | Echinococcus polymorphus | Cattle, sheep, swine, man, etc. |
CYSTICERCUS DISEASE OF THE PIG.
This disease of the pig is due to Cysticercus cellulosæ, the cystic form of the Tænia solium or Tænia armata of man. As a disease of the pig it has been recognised from the most ancient times, and is stated to be the cause of Moses and Mohammed having prohibited the consumption of pork by their disciples. In the Middle Ages it formed the subject of legislation. It was, however, only when the investigations of Van Beneden and Kuchenmeister had completed those of the zoologists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that the evolution of tæniæ became well known and the importance of the cystic phase clearly established.