Special report on diseases of cattleUnited States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Science
Special report on diseases of cattle
United States. Bureau of Animal Industry
Cattle -- Diseases
The affection to which the foregoing names have been given is a chronic,
mild, and apparently contagious disease of cattle, characterized by an
inflammatory condition of the mucous membrane of the vagina and the
development of nodules upon its surface.
This disease is very widely spread, but from an economic point of view it
does not appear to have great significance. Williams, who investigated it,
asserts that it is difficult to find a single herd in this country which is
free of this disease. He considers it of great importance, claiming that
granular vaginitis has a vital relation to abortion. This view, however, is
not substantiated by other investigators, it being now generally accepted
that the disease is only rarely responsible for abortion, and further, that
it exerts no apparent ill effects on the health of the animal and that it
has no effect on the milk yield.
_Symptoms._--Natural infection may take place either by direct contact of
animals or at the time of service. Most of the cows in the affected herd
contract the disease, but the bulls are rarely or very mildly affected. The
inflamed condition of the membranes of the vagina results in a catarrhal
exudate, and this discharge, which soils the external genitals and the
tail, and the uneasiness and sometimes the straining of the animal, are the
first and most prominent symptoms observed. Upon examination, small, hard,
grayish nodules can be seen and felt upon the inflamed membranes. This
acute stage may last for three or four weeks, then it gradually subsides
and assumes the chronic form, only to flare up again as the animal comes in
heat.
These nodules are sometimes found on the membranes of the uterus, and some
investigators have argued from this fact that it was responsible for
abortion and sterility. Others, however, deny this and point out that the
bacillus of abortion can be demonstrated in nearly every case. The
importance of the disease is therefore in dispute and the decision must be
left to future investigation.
_Treatment._--The exaggerated importance which has been attached to this
disease resulted in the exploitation of the most varied kinds of remedies
for its treatment. It is true that with a protracted and laborious
treatment it is possible to effect cures in from one to three months, but
with our present knowledge of this disorder it is advisable to limit the
treatment to animals which show an acute inflammatory condition of the
vagina and vulva with a discharge as a result of the granular affection.
The treatment should be local and confined to the application of antiseptic
washes in the form of irrigations. For this purpose a 0.5 per cent solution
of the compound solution of cresol or of Lugol's solution has been found
satisfactory.
PARTURITION (CALVING).
SYMPTOMS OF CALVING.
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