ABSTRACT
Enteritis necroticans or Pig-Bel is a necrotizing hemorrhagic jejunitis affecting the young adult population of the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. The typical symptoms are abdominal pain, usually abdominal distention, vomiting, and passage of bright blood. Pig feasting figured centrally in all social events, including ceremonies, celebrations, and sacrifices. Conservative treatment of acute disease has as its basis the rapid replacement of estimated fluid losses, together with the provision of electrolytes, protein, and calories. The disease in pigs is a profound hemorrhagic necrotic enteritis, less commonly a nectrotic enteritis without appreciable hemorrhage. The disease in guinea pigs was shown to be identical with that in humans regarding its gross pathology and microscopic findings. Immunization of sheep, cattle, and pigs against enterotoxemias caused by C. perfringens type C is carried out using crude toxoids prepared from toxic filtrates of the organism.
