The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1883-12-06
Scarlet Fever in Horses.

IN horses Is as Tar back as 10l4, and the
earliest account we have of scarlet fever
In mankind is A. D. 1910. From 1914
to 1910 there is an unbroken chain of
evidence of the existence of scarlet fever
in horses, simultaneously with out
breaks in human beings, and sometimes
connected with diphtheria in horses.
In 1914 a pestilential disease among
animals, something like measles, but
more particularly resembling scarlet
fever, was described. There was erup-
ton on the face, ears and neck, attend
ed with severe sore throat. In l6lO
severe sore throat reached many
horses, and it was like scarlet fever and
diphtheria. In 1917 Mercurialis de-
scribed a malignant sore throat and q
disease resembling scarlet fever, which
he said originated among horses and
was tranSmissible to man. In 1913 they
had one of the greatest outbreaks OF
scarlet fever and diphtheria among
human beings that has ever been de-
scribed. In 1910 the same thing hap
pened, accompanied with the epizooty
among horses. 1t was attributed to the
poisoning of the fountains, and witches
were burned as the culprits. These
cases were mainly in Portugal, Spain
and Italy. In 17l2 there was disease
of horses marked by high fever, swell,
ing of the throat, dropsy and disease OF
the kidneys. There were symptoms OF
scarlet fever then, which were attribu
ted to the poisoning of the water. In
1721 there was what was called scarlet
fever in man, and most violent epic.
otto in horses In 1727-2S Rutty, one OF
the most distinguished medical writer;
of the time, described a disease among
horses in Dublin and other parts Of Ire
land, where there was sore throat
among both horses and men. The
clothes of men carried the pestilence.
In 1874 there was a scarlet fever cpl
demic in England and Scotland and
there was also the epizooty among
horses which was described as scarlet
fever. Huxham, great medical writer.
described an epidemic of the same kind
the same year. l might multiply eN-
amples for the following century.
From 1884 down all the principal
writers on veterinary medicine have
descriptions of scarlet fever among
horses. They admit two varities, one
of which is mild and the other malig
nant The latter is said to come from
horses of bad constitution living in
filthy stables. The latest writers on the
subject are DIR. Williams, Professor OF
Veterinary Medicine in the Royal Col
lege of Edinburgh, and DR.. Robertson,
of London. DR.. Robertson takes the
peculiar view that scarlet fever origi-
mates spontaneously among horses. We
have generally supposed that scarlet
fever among human kind comes from
contagiOn. 1 think it much more prob
able that what he describes as scarlet
fever are but the first stages, and that
we have to look for real scarlet fever
among cases of ''pink-eye" and
"strangleS.
In the past summer | visited num-
Der of large car and omnibus stables in
pursuit of information on this subject.
| found very few cases. found that a
majority of the veterinary surgeons and
foremen of the stables denied all knowl-
edge of the disease, but on speaking to
them 1 found that they described it; yet
they thought it was not contagious.
My explanation of this is that the dis
ease is contagious, but it is not OBJ
served because the horses are bought in
small numbers, five to ten at a time.
These will get the disease in their turn.
but those which have had it before will
not take it. The disease which the new
horses get is called the distemper, and
is attributed to the foul air of the
stables irritating the eyes, noses and
threats of the horses. l feel pretty
sure that some of these horses have
scarlet fever. There are no means of
the stables. | believe that
the disease will be found largely in the
sales stables.
found some of the veterinary sur
geons quite familiar With the measles in
horses. There is pressing need of more
to the cleansing and ventila-
ton of stables. One thing l observed
as very peculiar, which was that in
some of the private stables, apparently
clean, there was obviously great injury
done by the use of straw infected by ex-
crement. Many fine private stables,
from this cause and from lack of venti-
lation, were worse than livery and car
stables. There is lamentable lack of
which are cheap, and
which are necessary to protect human
beings from the spread of disease as
well as to save the lives of valuable
horses. There are 100000 horses in
New York, and 10000 of them die every
year. There is no intelligent inspec-
ton of the stables as there should be,
and the Board of Health does not attend
to the subject as it should. | must
make an exception of the Fourth and
Madison Avenue car stables, which |
found very clean, and the horses were
very healthy. The owners have found
that it pays to keep the stables clean
and ventilated. They use disinfectants.
The most remarkable results have
been obtained by D.J. w. Stickler. of
Orange, n. J. He had some equine
virus sent to him by DIR. Williams, of
Dr. Stickler inoculated
posed to the disease of scarlet fever and
did not take it. That was last May or
June. He has inoculated two young
colts and reproduced the disease among
them. He failed with a calf, showing
that the horses were more susceptible
of the disease. Another set of children
were inoculated, all of whom were liv-
ing in the same room where case of
scarlet fever had broken out. Some
who had been exposed before the inoc-
ulation took the disease. but majority
escaped. There was only one case that
looked like failure. DR.. Stickler will
cultivate the virus and prove his exper-
iments He is sure to meet with great
and possibly as much as Jen-
ner did. but l have no doubt he has