Any animal suffering from fever

Any animal suffering from fever

Any animal suffering from fever

Any animal suffering from fever, whatever the cause, is much more susceptible to attacks of local inflammation, which become complications of the original disease, than are animals in sound health. In fever we have the tissues and the walls of the blood vessels weakened, we have an increased current of more or less altered blood flowing through the vessels and stagnating in the capillaries, which need but an exciting cause to transform the passive congestion of fever into an active congestion and acute inflammation. These conditions become still more distinct when the fever is accompanied with a decided deterioration in the blood itself, as is seen in influenza, septicemia, and at the termination of severe pneumonias.