blackleg

(veterinary medicine) An acute, usually fatal bacterial disease of cattle, and occasionally of sheep, goats, and swine, caused by Clostridium chauvoei.

An acute, usually fatal, disease of cattle and occasionally of sheep, goats, and swine. The infection is caused by Clostridium chauvoei (C. feseri), a strictly anaerobic, sporeforming bacillus of the soil. The disease is also called symptomatic anthrax or quarter-evil. The characteristic lesions in the natural infection consist of crepitant swellings in involved muscles, which at necropsy are dark red, dark brown, or blue black. Artificial immunization is possible; animals surviving an attack of blackleg are permanently immune to recurrence of the disease. See also Immunity.