Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever Page: 26
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TEXAS OR SOUTHERN CATTLE FEVER.
garded in any sense as peculiar to or characteristic of the disease were
observed. It may be said, in general, that the brain shared the general
tendency towards the injection of the capillary system. The vessels of
the pia and the plexuses were engorged, and over the frontal lobes and
near the great transverse fissure it was more or less pigmented--a con-
dition also met with in other diseases. The gray matter of the cere-
brum and especially of the cerebellum appeared of a more pinkish
color. The white substance was normal in color, the ventricles free
from fluid.
Lungs.-The lungs are, as a rule, healthy. There is, in many cases,
pulmonary oedema, with or without emphysema, noticeable after death.
In a few instances foci of dark red hepatization were observed in one
of the principal lobes, which involved one or several lobules.
Heart.-At the autopsy the right ventricle is always distended with
blood, fluid or clotted, according to the time elapsing between death
and the examination. The ]eft ventricle is usually firmly contracted,
and may contain a small quantity of fluid or clotted blood. The clots
are quite firm and very rarely mixed with firmer, pale yellowish clots.
A very constant lesion is the extravasation of blood beneath the epi-
and endocardium. This is mainly restricted to the left ventricle,
although petechim are not infrequently met with on the right ventricle.
On the external surface of the heart the petechiae are usually grouped
along the interventricular groove and near the base, although cases
occur in which the whole ventricular surface is sprinkled over with
them. The inner surface of the left ventricle shows larger patches of
extravasation usually on, or at the base of, the papillary muscles. On
the large vessels at the base of the heart, within the pericardial sac,
there are frequently very delicate shreds of tissue or patches in a hyper-
aemic condition. The heart muscle, on closer inspection, is observed to
have its minute vessels markedly injected, and in fresh sections the
capillary network is found densely packed with red corpuscles. In
cases which have succumbed after the subsidence of the fever the heart
muscle is quite pale. Cloudy and fatty changes of the fibers are in
some cases quite marked; in others absent or restricted to a small
number of fibers.*
Lesions of the abdominal cavity are not infrequent. (Edematous
conditions are quite common around the kidneys and will be referred to
again. Gelatinous oedemas are sometimes encountered in the portal
*An interesting appearance, which may now and then deceive observers, is the-
presence, under the endocardiumn, of minute, whitish, fusiform bodies, perhaps one
millimeter long, which seem to follow the course of the superficial veins and rest
upon or near their walls. They are sarcosporidia (psorospermia) cysts filled with
falciform bodies. These cysts are likewise present in the depths of the heart muscle
and in the skeletal muscles. Under the endocardium their number is greatest in
old cows. They are in some cases so numerous that fifty may be included in an area,
of a square centimeter. They are easily removed entire by careful teasing.26
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Smith, Theobold & Kilborne, Fred Lucius. Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever, book, 1893; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143538/m1/26/?rotate=90: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.