Epistaxis is also met with in states of general weakness and with deteriorated blood, as in anæmia, in the course of various fevers and in those hemorrhagic constitutions in which the altered blood appears to find an easy passage through the debilitated or ruptured coats of the bloodvessels. Thus it is seen in the so-called purpura hemorrhagica in the horse, in small-pox in sheep, in anthrax, and in swine plague and hog cholera. Hering records the case of a number of pigs suffering from a scorbutic affection and which bled profusely from the nose. In bleeders (hæmophilia) and in leucocythæmia it is liable to appear.
The ulcerations of the mucous membrane occurring in glanders and chronic catarrh have proved exciting causes of the hemorrhage. Lastly the intense heats of summer and prolonged exposure to the direct rays of the sun induce a general relaxation and a determination of blood to the surface which rouses to activity the latent tendency.
Symptoms. The bleeding, usually from one nostril only, falls in a succession of drops, (rarely in a stream), collects in clots around the nostril, and bespatters surrounding objects as it is expelled forcibly in sneezing. It is usually of a bright crimson hue or, in fevers or poisoned conditions of the blood, of a dark or blackish color. It is distinguished from pulmonary hemorrhage by the absence of cough and of a frothy condition, and from bleeding from the stomach by the absence of the blackened clots and acid odor which indicate the presence of the gastric juice.
It is usually to be further distinguished from these in all animals, save solipedes, by the absence of blood in the mouth.
Treatment. Nasal hemorrhage often stops spontaneously, but if the discharge is profuse or long continued, and especially in weak or anæmic conditions it must be treated energetically. Care should be taken, however, to ascertain first, whether it is not vicarious of some other and more dangerous condition like cerebral congestion.
The head should be placed in an elevated position by tying it up to the rack, and cold water or ice kept applied over the head and neck. Matico powder may be blown into the affected nostril during inspiration, or a solution of alum (4 drachms to 1 pint of water) or other astringent may be thrown in by means of a syringe. A tablespoonful of peroxide of hydrogen thrown into the nose with an ordinary syringe will give immediate relief. (Gillette.)
Plugging the affected nostril with a pellet of tow covered with matico, tannin, tincture of chloride of iron (1:10 or 20) or other astringent may be employed when other means fail. By means of a cord attached to the plug it may be withdrawn after all danger is past. In solipedes, if both nostrils must be plugged, wrap the tow around two elastic caoutchouc tubes and introduce these, or in the absence of these perform tracheotomy.
Any tendency to recurrence may be met by the internal administration of gallic acid (horse and cow ½–1 drachm), acetate of lead (horse and cow ½–1 drachm) or, in anæmic conditions, tincture of the perchloride of iron (horse and cow ½ oz.) in water.
RHINITIS. CORYZA. NASAL CATARRH. COLD IN THE HEAD.
Coryza in the horse: Causes, wet, cold after perspiration, damp climate, stable, soil, new buildings, hygroscopic building materials, youth, age, poverty, nervous sympathy, local irritants, iodine, specific disease poisons. Symptoms, dry congestion, watery discharge, muco-purulent discharge, eyes involved, chill, fever, circulatory and breathing disturbance, defecation, urine, glandular swelling. Inflammation of the sinuses, the severe effects. Duration in slight cases, in severe, in sinus complication. Treatment, hygienic, nursing, dietary, steam, sulphur dioxide, febrifuges, insufflation, electricity, solvent, antiseptic, stimulant.