VESICULAR EXANTHEMA IN CATTLE.
Definition: acute infections, eruptive affection, usually of the genitals, in cattle, transmitted by breeding, and marked by congestion, papules, vesicles and pustules. Cause: infection by coition; by contact, by gutter, by tail, by licking, in sucklings. Oxen and non-pregnant cows suffer. Symptoms: incubation 1 to 6 days, cows have swelling, red points, papules, vesicles and pustules on vulvar mucosa and adjoining skin, with profuse glairy discharge, and it may be fever: bull has matting of preputial hairs, frequent micturition, swollen sheath, red penis, vesicles, even necrotic ulcers and distortion. Immunization short, uncertain. Treatment as in horse. Prevention: seclusion and disinfection of animals, disinfection of stalls, gutters, rubbing posts, trees, complete segregation of sick from healthy.
Definition. An acute eruptive affection, attacking particularly the generative organs of breeding cattle, manifested by congestion, papules, vesicles and pustules of the mucosa and skin and transmitted largely by copulation.
Causes. The one known cause is infection and the most common mode of communicating it is by the generative act. In this it agrees with the mild coital exanthema of horses, and the two affections have been considered as identical with each other and with cowpox (Trasbot). The similarity of the symptoms and the duration of the disease sustain this view, but, if correct, it is probable that the affection has undergone a distinct modification which adapts the microbe especially to life in the genital canal, and to the maintenance of its virulence for a longer period, and finally, robs it of the power of producing any permanent immunity. Cowpox, though raised on the lips of the vulva, the inner side of the thighs and the abdomen where it can be easily reached by the tail does not tend to implicate the genital canal, and it so quickly secures immunity, that neither male nor female would be likely to long convey the disease. Yet in both horses and cattle experience shows that the acquired immunity of vesicular exanthema is very short lived.
Cattle, much more than horses, are liable to transmission of the disease by other channels than coition. Contact with the same soiled stall and gutter, the direct transference to adjoining animals by the soiled tail, and the greater frequency with which they lick themselves and others doubtless contribute to this. The frequency of non-coital infection is shown in Numann’s cases affecting the anus and sheath in oxen; also in Fenner’s long list of cases in 669 non-pregnant cows, in a number of cows in advanced pregnancy and in calves of a few weeks old (Friedberger and Fröhner).
Symptoms. In Cows. After an incubation of one to six, (or exceptionally ten) days, there occur swelling and redness of the lips of the vulva, and the vaginal mucosa with here and there dark red points, and an abundant clear, glairy discharge. The red points may become firm and papular, and an exudate beneath the epithelium transforms them into vesicles at first translucent but later yellow or brown as pus cells accumulate. The clear mucous discharge meanwhile becomes opaque and, as the pustules open, forming sores, yellowish and purulent. This discharge soils the tails and hips, drains out on the back part of the stall and the gutters and is carried by the tail to the udder and to other stock. Itching may be severe and the constant rubbing and switching of the tail, may irritate the sores and cause them to deepen or extend, beside favoring septic infection and local necrotic processes. In such cases there may be more or less fever, impairment of appetite, rumination and digestion, and of the secretion of milk. Abortion is not unknown though exceptional.
Symptoms. In Bull. The matting together of the long hairs of the prepuce may be the first indication of the disease, attended or followed by frequent micturition, or by standing with the tail raised and the accelerator urinæ pulsating over the ischiatic arch as if passing urine. The sheath appears swollen, the penis red granular, and angry, with red spots, and even the scrotum may be involved in the enlargement. The red points advance as in the female through the different forms of papule, vesicle and pustule to the formation of sores which are more or less red and angry. There may be an indisposition or even inability to protract the penis, and the bull may be tardy to serve, or in case the organ is erected and used, blood may ooze from the respective sores. The disease usually lasts about two weeks, but may recur a few weeks later in connection with a new infection. In aggravated and prolonged cases there may be local septic and necrotic processes, and general fever and digestive disturbances. Distortions of the penis may render the subject permanently useless as a sire.
Treatment is essentially the same as in the horse. Antiseptic and astringent solutions (sulphate of zinc, iron or copper (2:100), nitrate of silver, carbolic acid, corrosive sublimate, lysol, creolin, etc.) may be used to advantage. Laxatives and diuretics may be called for.
Prevention. This would require the temporary seclusion and final disinfection of all animals attacked, the thorough cleansing and disinfection of the stalls and gutters, as well as all posts, trees and fences on which the animals rub themselves. The attendants should use no combs, brushes, sponges nor rubbers indiscriminately on the sick and healthy. They should disinfect their hands and, if necessary, their clothes after having handled the sick and before handling or milking sound animals. An obvious precaution is to place the sick and healthy in separate buildings and yards.