The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-06-03
s. Sheep Rot"

For some time great mortality has
prevailed among sheep, and the de-
struction reported is something appal-
ling. The malady is popularity known
by a very old Saxon name, "rot," and
is in reality due to the presence in the
liver and hepatic canals of numbers of
the DistomG hepaticum, trematode
entozoon, as well as the Distonsa lanceo-
lat1ns, also member of the same order.
These entozoa, from their resemblance
to the fish called " tlukes." have re-
ceived the same name, and have a par
ticular prediction for the hillary
apparatus, whose function they more or
less destroy, and thus lead to the slow
death of the sheep or other animals
they may infest. After wet seasons,
animals which have been pastured on
tainted land are certain to suffer, from
their having ingested with the herbagc
the ova of the Distoma. Pastures ar
tainted by 6 fluke'' infested sheep
which pass the mature worms or their
ova with the feces, and these lodge on
or are washed into the ground. The
worms, of course, die, and the ova with
in them are liberated; and these, to-
gether with the free ova, appear to
have not only strong vital resistance
to meteorological alterations, but also
the good fortune to find a ready and
acceptable intermediary host in the
LinanOeMs nainMtus, a little mud
snail common everywhere, and particu-
larly on wet land. This snail becomes
possessed of q number of ova in its
interior, and during damp weather it
crawls from. its breeding place in the
ground up the stalks of grass and herb
age, and is swallowed by the sheep or
other herbivorous animals when they
are grazing. Received at first into the
stomach, the ova undergo partial devel-
opment, and then find their way into
the hillary canals. If their number is
considerable, when they have attained
their full growth they dilate and OBJ
struct these canals the walls of which
become considerably thickened. Dur
ing their development the secretion of
bile becomes gradually diminished, and
that fluid is viscid, like mucous, and al
tered in color; at the same time the
parenchyma of the liver becomes afro
phied from the compression the
!" flukes' exercise upon it, and it may
even become disorganized. Hence re-
suit icterus, disturbance in nutrition,
an@mia, dropsy, and ageneral cachectic
condition.
Sheep are moi the only victims which
suffer from the Distoma, for during the
present mortality hares, rabbits, deer
and horses are said to have become in
tested, and died. The Distonsa hepdti-
cum has long been known to exist in
the horse and ass, when they were al
lowed to pasture on unclean land during
wet seasons.
Salt appears to be an excellent and
well known prophylactic agent, and
even a curative one when the disease
has not made much progress. This
beneficial action of sodium chloride has
been known almost from time imme-
mortal, and the freedom from "ros" Of
sheep which have been pastured on
salt marshes has been also recognized
for centuries.
The flesh Of sheep which have been
affected with this verminous disease
cannot be said to be positively danger
GUS as food. though it must be greatly
reduced in nutritive properties, as well
a. in quality. The, human being may
receive and harbor the Distoma, a fact
worthy of remembrance. The present
mortality is likely to render sheep
scarce and expensive in this country fol
some time, and still further darken the
prospects Of our agriculturists. -LaNcet