Mange

Mange, a contagious disease in horses, dogs, and cattle, is, like scab in sheep, very similar to itch in the human subject, resulting from the attacks of minute mites or acari. Some of these burrow in the skin, others move about upon the skin, especially if it be dirty or scurfy, and cause much irritation, heat, and itching, and the eruption of minute pimples, with dryness, scurfiness, baldness, and bleaching of the skin. The treatment consists in destroying the acari, and insuring the cleanliness and health of the skin, both of which objects are effected by washing the parts thoroughly every second day with soft soap and water, and dressing daily with sulphur or mild mercurial ointments, or with a solution containing four grains either of corrosive sublimate or arsenic to the ounce of water. Castor-oil seeds, bruised and steeped for twelve hours in buttermilk, are very successfully used by the native Indian farriers. Where the heat and itching are great, as is often the case in dogs, a few drops of tincture of belladonna may be used to the usual dressing, or applied along with a little glycerine. Where the general health is indifferent, as in chronic cases, the patient should be liberally fed, kept clean and comfortable, have an occasional alternative dose of any simple saline medicine, such as nitre or common salt, and a course of such tonics as iron or arsenic. Cleanliness and occasional washing and brushing maintain the skin in a healthy state, and thus prevent its becoming a suitable nidus for the acari.—The Sarcoptic mange, due to a burrowing mite, besides being highly contagious, is often fatal, and is specially legislated for in the Shetland Islands, where it is very prevalent, under the Contagious Diseases Acts.