On damp infested soil, in cattle and swine. Round tumors, hard surface,
soft centre, fibrous sac, club-shaped cells in tufts. Symptoms of liver
disorder. Coincident external actinomycosis. Treatment: potassium
iodide.
In damp soils where actinomyces are present in the soil and vegetation,
it is not uncommon to find the characteristic growths in the liver of
cattle and swine. Rasmussen saw twenty-two cases of hepatic
actinomycosis in one year (1890) and in a number of cases he has found
the liver, spleen, peritoneum and intestine simultaneously affected.
Jensen who has also recorded hepatic cases, found tumors extending from
the liver to the diaphragm. He describes them as rounded masses, of
different sizes, enclosed in a fibrous envelope of variable thickness,
hard and resistant at the surface and somewhat softened toward the
centre. Microscopic examination detects the club-shaped cells arranged
in tufts and radiating from a common centre.
_Symptoms_ are only the general indications of hepatic disease differing
according to the size, and position of the morbid product and its
interference with normal functions. When, however, superficial
actinomycosis is found these symptoms may be fairly attributed to the
existence of similar products in the liver.
_Treatment_ consists in the administration of potassium iodide in full
doses, daily for a week, followed by a laxative, and then, after an
interval of two days, repeat the treatment for a second week, and so for
a third, fourth and fifth until the microbe has been destroyed.