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A Case of Actinomycosis in the Horse
162
ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.
the character and course of the disease produced in the fowls after inoculation with blood or spleen tissue in this disease is altogether different from those observed in fowl cholera. In fowl cholera the inoculated animals die within twenty-four to thirty-six hours, with the symptoms of fowl cholera. In this case, however, the inoculated fowls remain all right for the first five days; then diarrhrea sets in of yellow thin evacuations; the animals are quiet, but do not show any of the sleepiness characteristic of fowl cholera. Next day (i.e. seventh day) the animals are found dead. Of eight fowls thus inoculated, five died on the seventh, two on the eighth, and one on the night between the eighth and ninth day. The post-mortem appearances were identical with those mentioned as occurring in the fowls dead of the natural disease. With the artificial cultivatlOns of the bacilli, four fowls were inoculated. The result was precisely the same as in the animals inoculated with the blood or spleen tissue. The symptoms and post-mortem appearances were identical. In all fowls, those inoculated with blood and spleen tissue of a fowl dead of the natural disease, as well as those with artificial cultivations of the bacilli, there were present the same bacilli in the blood and spleen tissue, as was proved by microscopic examination, as well as by cultivations on nutrient gelatine. In the bowel discharges and the bowel contents the same bacilli were present in very large numbers, as was proved by microscopic examination and by culture-experiments. It was further proved by experiment that fowls to whose food the bowel discharges of a diseased fowl were added became smitten with the disease. Hens were found to be more susceptible to the disease than cocks.
A CASE OF ACTINOMYCOSIS IN THE HORSE. IN the year r879 Rivolta discovered in a tumour of the spermatic cord of a horse a parasite which he believed to be identical with the actinomyces bovis, or at least nearly related to it. Later observations by himself, Rabe, and J ohne have shown that this organism-the discomyces equi-is a separate species, having no connection with the actinomyces of cattle. In 1885 Johne recorded a case in which he found a parasite identical with the actinomyces bovis in the horse, and two other cases in which the organism present almost certainly belonged to that species. More recently (1887) Perroncito described a case in which a true actinomykoma developed at the seat of a trifling wound of the hind font of a horse standing in a cow's stall. Baranski adds to these the following interesting case. 1 The seat of disease in this instance was the right submaxillary gland, and the animal was a valuable stallion. Some time after purchase it was observed that the above-mentioned gland was swollen, and glanders was suspected. With a view to rapid diagnosis, as the animal stood in a valuable stud, the enlarged gland was extirpated, and it was sent to the Pathological Institute of the Berlin Veterinary College. The excised gland showed the following changes: It was the size of a goose egg, very firm, and cut with difficulty, creaking under the knife. The separate lobules of the gland were not distinctly differentiated, and only three could be isolated, the two smaller having the volume of a hazel nut, while the third was as large as a hen's egg. The two smaller lobules were firm, smooth on section, shining, greyish-red, with pinhead dark-red spots. They were in a condition of hyperplasia. The large lobule, which was recognisably composed of a number of smaller ones, had a grey-white, somewhat moist cut surface, and it showed numerous yellow points varying in size from a pin's head to a hemp-seed. The yellow foci were some1 To these instances of equine actinomycosis ought to be added the case recorded in YoJ. 1. p. 49, of this Journal.
ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS. what regularly distributed throughout the whole of this lobe, and on pressure they discharged a yellow purulent material, which was found by microscopic examination to consist for the most part of round cells with one to three nuclei and granular protoplasm. Almost all of the cells contained also fat droplets in larger or smaller numbers. Many of the larger cells were quite filled with these. Besides these cellular elements the purulent material contained large yellow structures which were easily recognisable as actinomyces colonies. Even with the naked eye the small granules could be discerned and isolated on the microscope slide, especially when the purulent matter had been diluted. They formed round or oval colonies of a light yellow colour, and on slight magnification they showed a fine close radial striation. These bodies lay sometimes singly, sometimes several together, and in the latter case they took the form of a rosette. The centre of the colony was broader and darker than the periphery. The latter part was about a quarter of the breadth of the central part, somewhat sharply separated fr,)m it, and carried continuously round the entire colony. With higher magnification it could without difficulty be observed that the central part of the structure was composed of radially disposed thin clubs, which lay close together and determined the darker colour of the centre. From these clubs fine threads radiated outwards and were closely united with one another. These formed the lighter periphery. The consistence of the colonies was somewhat various, some falling to pieces under the weight of the cover-glass, while others required a strong pressure to crush them and show distinctly their separate constituents. The addition of acid rendered the radiate structure of the heaps more evident. The tissue in which the yellow granules were distributed showed on microscopic examination the structure of a fibro-sarcoma. It was composed of thick connective-tissue bundles, intercrossing in various directions, and having numerous round cells interspersed. Three guinea-pigs were subcutaneously inoculated on the abdomen with material from the gland, a piece of tissue the size of a pea being inserted into a skin pocket of each animal. The results were negative. It was impossible to determine how infection of the submaxillary gland had been brought about, as no lesion was discoverable in the mouth of the horse.-ArcJziz' jiir 'Wissetl. und prakt. Thierheilkunde.
TWO CASES OF CONGENITAL TUBERCULOSIS IN CALVES. IN the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur for April last, MM. Malvoz and Brouwier add to the well-known case recorded by J ohne a second indubitable instance of congenital tuberculosis, and they give particulars of another case in which, although the calf was six weeks old at the time of death, there can hardly be any doubt that the tubercular lesions ante-dated the birth of the animal. CASE I.-On the 25th of January last the authors received from M. Lefevre, Veterinary Surgeon, the liver and lungs with their lymphatic glands belonging to an eight months fcetus found in the uterus of a cow that was the subject of generalised tuberculosis. At the inferior (posterior) face of the liver, near the portal fissure, there were found half a score of lymphatic glands, some of which measured almost four millimetres in diameter, others up to one centimetre. Almost the whole of these glands presented near their centre a small irregular focus formed by the confluence of small caseo-cretaceous points, about the size of a pin's head, and easily enucleated. In the hepatic substance itself there were found, for the most part near the convex face of the organ, four or five granulations, about four millimetres in diameter, well defined, of a greyish-white colour, and projecting under the capsule. Some other fOCi
ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS.
the character and course of the disease produced in the fowls after inoculation with blood or spleen tissue in this disease is altogether different from those observed in fowl cholera. In fowl cholera the inoculated animals die within twenty-four to thirty-six hours, with the symptoms of fowl cholera. In this case, however, the inoculated fowls remain all right for the first five days; then diarrhrea sets in of yellow thin evacuations; the animals are quiet, but do not show any of the sleepiness characteristic of fowl cholera. Next day (i.e. seventh day) the animals are found dead. Of eight fowls thus inoculated, five died on the seventh, two on the eighth, and one on the night between the eighth and ninth day. The post-mortem appearances were identical with those mentioned as occurring in the fowls dead of the natural disease. With the artificial cultivatlOns of the bacilli, four fowls were inoculated. The result was precisely the same as in the animals inoculated with the blood or spleen tissue. The symptoms and post-mortem appearances were identical. In all fowls, those inoculated with blood and spleen tissue of a fowl dead of the natural disease, as well as those with artificial cultivations of the bacilli, there were present the same bacilli in the blood and spleen tissue, as was proved by microscopic examination, as well as by cultivations on nutrient gelatine. In the bowel discharges and the bowel contents the same bacilli were present in very large numbers, as was proved by microscopic examination and by culture-experiments. It was further proved by experiment that fowls to whose food the bowel discharges of a diseased fowl were added became smitten with the disease. Hens were found to be more susceptible to the disease than cocks.
A CASE OF ACTINOMYCOSIS IN THE HORSE. IN the year r879 Rivolta discovered in a tumour of the spermatic cord of a horse a parasite which he believed to be identical with the actinomyces bovis, or at least nearly related to it. Later observations by himself, Rabe, and J ohne have shown that this organism-the discomyces equi-is a separate species, having no connection with the actinomyces of cattle. In 1885 Johne recorded a case in which he found a parasite identical with the actinomyces bovis in the horse, and two other cases in which the organism present almost certainly belonged to that species. More recently (1887) Perroncito described a case in which a true actinomykoma developed at the seat of a trifling wound of the hind font of a horse standing in a cow's stall. Baranski adds to these the following interesting case. 1 The seat of disease in this instance was the right submaxillary gland, and the animal was a valuable stallion. Some time after purchase it was observed that the above-mentioned gland was swollen, and glanders was suspected. With a view to rapid diagnosis, as the animal stood in a valuable stud, the enlarged gland was extirpated, and it was sent to the Pathological Institute of the Berlin Veterinary College. The excised gland showed the following changes: It was the size of a goose egg, very firm, and cut with difficulty, creaking under the knife. The separate lobules of the gland were not distinctly differentiated, and only three could be isolated, the two smaller having the volume of a hazel nut, while the third was as large as a hen's egg. The two smaller lobules were firm, smooth on section, shining, greyish-red, with pinhead dark-red spots. They were in a condition of hyperplasia. The large lobule, which was recognisably composed of a number of smaller ones, had a grey-white, somewhat moist cut surface, and it showed numerous yellow points varying in size from a pin's head to a hemp-seed. The yellow foci were some1 To these instances of equine actinomycosis ought to be added the case recorded in YoJ. 1. p. 49, of this Journal.
ABSTRACTS AND REPORTS. what regularly distributed throughout the whole of this lobe, and on pressure they discharged a yellow purulent material, which was found by microscopic examination to consist for the most part of round cells with one to three nuclei and granular protoplasm. Almost all of the cells contained also fat droplets in larger or smaller numbers. Many of the larger cells were quite filled with these. Besides these cellular elements the purulent material contained large yellow structures which were easily recognisable as actinomyces colonies. Even with the naked eye the small granules could be discerned and isolated on the microscope slide, especially when the purulent matter had been diluted. They formed round or oval colonies of a light yellow colour, and on slight magnification they showed a fine close radial striation. These bodies lay sometimes singly, sometimes several together, and in the latter case they took the form of a rosette. The centre of the colony was broader and darker than the periphery. The latter part was about a quarter of the breadth of the central part, somewhat sharply separated fr,)m it, and carried continuously round the entire colony. With higher magnification it could without difficulty be observed that the central part of the structure was composed of radially disposed thin clubs, which lay close together and determined the darker colour of the centre. From these clubs fine threads radiated outwards and were closely united with one another. These formed the lighter periphery. The consistence of the colonies was somewhat various, some falling to pieces under the weight of the cover-glass, while others required a strong pressure to crush them and show distinctly their separate constituents. The addition of acid rendered the radiate structure of the heaps more evident. The tissue in which the yellow granules were distributed showed on microscopic examination the structure of a fibro-sarcoma. It was composed of thick connective-tissue bundles, intercrossing in various directions, and having numerous round cells interspersed. Three guinea-pigs were subcutaneously inoculated on the abdomen with material from the gland, a piece of tissue the size of a pea being inserted into a skin pocket of each animal. The results were negative. It was impossible to determine how infection of the submaxillary gland had been brought about, as no lesion was discoverable in the mouth of the horse.-ArcJziz' jiir 'Wissetl. und prakt. Thierheilkunde.
TWO CASES OF CONGENITAL TUBERCULOSIS IN CALVES. IN the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur for April last, MM. Malvoz and Brouwier add to the well-known case recorded by J ohne a second indubitable instance of congenital tuberculosis, and they give particulars of another case in which, although the calf was six weeks old at the time of death, there can hardly be any doubt that the tubercular lesions ante-dated the birth of the animal. CASE I.-On the 25th of January last the authors received from M. Lefevre, Veterinary Surgeon, the liver and lungs with their lymphatic glands belonging to an eight months fcetus found in the uterus of a cow that was the subject of generalised tuberculosis. At the inferior (posterior) face of the liver, near the portal fissure, there were found half a score of lymphatic glands, some of which measured almost four millimetres in diameter, others up to one centimetre. Almost the whole of these glands presented near their centre a small irregular focus formed by the confluence of small caseo-cretaceous points, about the size of a pin's head, and easily enucleated. In the hepatic substance itself there were found, for the most part near the convex face of the organ, four or five granulations, about four millimetres in diameter, well defined, of a greyish-white colour, and projecting under the capsule. Some other fOCi