THE HORSE DISEASE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 6, 7 January 1873, Page 4

THE HORSE DISEASE.

The news from America, of the rapid spread of the distemper among horseß, is nofc without interest to us in New Zealand, which is now in direct communication with the United States. The danger from infection is not slight, as the following extract from a leading Californian newspaper will show : —

One or two cases of the horse disease, that has spread such terror in the Eastern cities, are said to exist here. We hope that this is not so, and have much confidence that we shall be spared ' this affliction, as good veterinary authorities affirm that our equable climate protects us from the equine epidemic. But as it seems to be entirely new, and so far in its diagnosis to have baffled the skill of the ablest and most experienced of the veterinary surgeons and horsemen of the Atlantic cities, it is well for us not to rely too greatly on our exceptional climate as a prophylactic of this plague. The rapid spread of the disease among horses is marvellous; and if it should, as it is said it may, attack human beings, the consequences are frightful to contemplate. It is scarcely a month since this disease, starting in CaDada, crossed over to the American side, and yet to-day the ravages and loss occasioned by it are beyond computation, and the panic is universal in the cities visited by the scourge. Wo experience much difficulty in collecting information of value to our readers on this subject, because of the apparent lack of knowledge of those who, skilled in ordinary animal diseases, are unequal to the task of interpreting the symptoms of this distemper when brought face to face with it. An Eastern paper says that the seeds of the disense seem in the air, and wherever the infection lights the disease widens its circles as fast and far as the ripples on a disturbed lake ; but other papers contend that it moves in narrow boundaries and under apparent laws whose principle has not yet been discovered by the most laborious efforts of the scientific in equinal pathology. In the last annual report of the Commissioner of Agriculture some valuable matter is contained touching a disease which, if not the same, is very similar to that now raging among the horses of the Atlantic side. The Commissioner in his report endeavors to show the origin of the complaint, and the liability of man and other animals to take it by contagion. According to Mr Watts, the Commissioner, this disease, scientifically termed the Epizootic Apthge, though prevailing in Europe for nearly two centuries, reached Great Britain only in 1839, Denmark in 1841, and America in 1870. His testimony supports the idea that the disease was first introduced from England by cattle, which were shipped from England in August, 1870, and spread it among the Canadian cattle. At different times in the autumn of that year it was brought into Dutehese county, New York State, by droves of cattle from Albany, and spread widely thence through New York and into Massachusetts. Commissioner Watts asserts that the only cause of itself capable of transmitting the disease is the contact of a sound animal with one diseased ; while the indirect means for the diffusion of the virus are the accumulation of cattle in large fairs or markets, and the travel of stock by rail and road. According to the best testimony, this virus can be carried on the clothe?, boots, and hands of men, in bundles of hay or straw, and may be preserved on the walls, floors, mangers, and drinking troughs of stables, and may even be carried on the legs and bodies of dogs, chicken, and rats, which may themselves escape the disease. That the disease may be transmitted to other animals besides cattle and horsee is proved by the testimony of all the writers since 1695. In young animals, feeding exclusively on milk, it superinduces diarrhoea and inflammation of the stomach and bowels. It has been frequently noticed in chickens, and dogs and cats, after drinking milk, have been observed to have it. Its transmission to man has also been noticed during every great outbreak of the disease, and cases were observed io New York in 1870. Its symptoms in man are slight feverishness, and the formation, on the tongue and inside the cheeks of small blisters. The Commissioner, while he states the accessories of the disease, unfortunately suggests no remedies for it—a neglect which is all the more to be deplored it the disease has now made its appearance in this city, and the wet weather which has set in should tend to aggravate it.