A MYSTERIOUS DISEASE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9605, 27 September 1909, Page 7

A MYSTERIOUS DISEASE.

*" There is at present a disease prevalent among horses in the Masterton district, which is foreign to local authorities, and though very contagious is not of a very serious nature. It affects'thefnose and throat of the horse, causing a large amount of dis charge of a pecular nature, beiner thick yellow and opaque in character. In some cases the disease causes an abscess in the back of £the throat, which presents rather alarming symptoms, and incapacitates ..the horse for a considerable time. In a few | caue« the lungs become affected. It is then that the disease is most serious, as it is very likely to leave a permanent weakness in the lungs which at any time may be ex cited into an acute inflammation, ending either in death or a permannent affection. In either the .chronic or acute stale the horse is always a sourca of danger to other horses, as the disease can be conveyed by either direct or indirect contact. A horse | may contract the disease by direct contact with the horse affected, or by feeding from the same, manger, drinking from the same trough, or feeding in the same paddock with • out coming into actual contact with the affected horse. | It is a disease in which one has Ito be extremely careful in isolating a"horse that is affected, not allowirg any of the usual stable implements, such as brushes, curricombs, etc., which have been used on a diseased horse, to be utilised for cleaning other horses. The stall that the affected horse has been in should be thoroughly disinfected —it, i?, in fact, better to disinfect the whole stable. It is essentially a bacterial disease of a very contagious and infectious nature, and causes a very large pecuniary losa to the owners of horses, and there cannot be too much care taken in respect to precautionary measures. '