The various complications require treatment appropriate to their nature. Collections of pus in the nasal sinuses may demand trephining and antiseptic injections. Swellings about the throat threatening asphyxia and which cannot be relieved by evacuation of pus may necessitate tracheotomy until suppuration occurs. The cutaneous pustules and abscesses are dealt with by pricking the collections and washing daily or oftener with astringent antiseptics (phenic acid and alum). Bronchitis and broncho-pneumonia may be benefited by sinapisms applied to the sides of the chest, the internal administration of potassium iodide, ammonium chloride, sodium hyposulphite, terpene or terpinol; or by inhalation of weak sulphur fumes, or tar vapor.
For abscesses in the bronchial or mesenteric glands, the brain, spinal cord, or other internal organ, little can usually be done but to sustain the patient and await the course of events. If the abscess can be accurately located it may be aspirated and then injected with an antiseptic; if in the encephalon, trephining may be resorted to; death is certain in such a case in the absence of treatment.
During convalescence it is very important to avoid overexertion and chill, which are very liable to bring on petechial fever. Also, to feed nourishing food, give pure air and water, and to see that no suspension of action of bowels, or kidneys threatens to shut up toxins and waste products in the system. Apropos of impure water Williams quotes the case of a foul stream near Bradford, England, on the banks of which every case of strangles did badly.
CONTAGIOUS PNEUMONIA IN THE HORSE.
Synonyms. Definition. Historic notes. Accessory causes: youth, native susceptibility, inclement weather, exposed stables, nasal and bronchial catarrh, sores as infection atria, lack of stable hygiene, crowding, underfeeding, overwork, excitement, exhaustion, infection from stables, etc., convalescents; doctrine of recrudescence. Bacteriology: streptococcus pneumoniæ contagiosæ equi: pathogenic to mice, rabbits, and Guinea pigs. Cocco-bacillus of Lignieres in early lesions. Lesions: bilateral, multiple foci, congestion, consolidation, purulent, necrotic, infarction, sequestra in purulent sacs, pleuritic effusion; enlarged, congested liver with centres of degeneration and necrosis. Congested spleen, kidneys, lymph glands and gastro-intestinal mucosa. Yellow mucosæ, mahogany colored muscles. Incubation, 3 to 10 days. Symptoms: staring coat, early extreme hyperthermia, accelerated pulse and breathing, cough, icteric mucosæ, anorexia, dulness, defervescence in 3 to 5 days; convalescence in 10 days; or prostration, swollen eyelids, trembling or interrupted labored breathing, cough, nasal flow yellow, multiple centres of percussion flatness, crepitation, râles; urine scanty, yellow or reddish, albuminous, acid, alkalinity as a symptom; throat symptoms, inhalation bronchitis, cardiac phenomena, swelling of legs, stupor, trembling, staggering, vertigo, paresis. Course: duration 2 to 3 weeks, defervescence. Fatal cases, toxin poisoning. Diagnosis: by age, history, tardy infection, prostration usually less than in influenza. Prognosis: gravity depends on violence of attack, susceptibility, hygiene, treatment. Mortality 1 to 20 per cent. Permanent lesions from sequestra, adhesions, cardiac, hepatic, nervous or arthritic disease. Treatment: pure air, sunshine, comfort, hygiene, pure water, rest, cold rectal injections, damp compresses, hot bath, diaphoretics, expectorants, alkaline diuretics, antipyretics, heart stimulants, derivatives, antiseptics, nerve sedatives, tonics. Prevention: early removal, disinfection, quarantine new horses, disinfection of public and sale yards and stables, certificates. Immunization: by a mild attack; serum-therapy.
Synonyms. Ataxic or Adynamic Pneumonia; Stable or Hospital Pneumonia; Pleuro-Pneumonia Contagiosa Equorum; Contagious Pleuro-Pneumonia; Bilious Pneumonia; Edematous Pneumonia; Brustseuche.
Definition. An infectious adynamic type of pneumonia occurring in horses, asses and mules, characterized by marked hyperthermia; by infiltration of lung tissue, often bloody, infarcted or caseated and usually circumscribed; by a deep yellow discoloration of the visible mucosa and other white tissues; and by complicating lesions of the pleura, heart, pericardium, liver, bowels, or kidneys.
Historic Notes. This affection was formerly confounded with equine influenza, and it was only in the second third of the nineteenth century that the differentiation was attempted. S. Prangé describes this as a special epizoötic disease in the French hussars in 1841, Leconturier in Belgium in 1845, Seidamgrotzky in Germany in 1882 (strongly emphasizing the contagion), and Dieckerhoff in Berlin in 1883. The latter showed that horses, recovered and immune from influenza, still contracted brustseuche and perished. This distinction was fully corroborated by Lustig, Cagnat (1884), Brun, Delamotte (1886), Jolly, Benjamin, Leclainche, Trasbot, and others. The presence of a particulate, living, self-multiplying cause (microbe) was recognized as the essential condition of the disease (as we still recognize the necessity for such an organism to explain rabies) though the micro-organism itself was as yet undiscovered.
At the same time many concurrent factors had to be considered as accessory in different cases.
Accessory Causes. Young horses often show a greater susceptibility than older animals, mainly because they retain all the unimpaired susceptibility of the colt, while old horses have already passed through the disease and become immune. On the other hand, in the absence of acquired immunity, the older, worn out and debilitated animals are the most susceptible and tend to have the disease in its worst form. Susceptibility and immunity are therefore more important factors than mere age. Immunity usually lasts for several years, or throughout life, yet in some animals, or under given conditions, it is overcome much earlier. Inclemency of the weather, or special exposure of any kind, as in severe rainstorms, or working with the feet and legs in water, may become the occasion of an attack. Exposure to cold northwest storms (America, Atlantic Slope), or northeast (Europe), standing without blanket in a temperature at zero, confinement in draughts of cold air between doors or windows, without clothing and after severe exercise, weaken the whole system and increase susceptibility. The presence of a nasal or bronchial catarrh, or of another debilitating disease may act in the same way. The weakened tissues seem to invite the entrance of the germ. Palat, Boiteux and Trasbot found that horses with local sores or suppurations fell readier victims than others;—perhaps the germs entered by the traumas; perhaps the tone of the whole system was lowered, so that the resistance was lessened.