blackleg

blackleg

(blăk′lĕg′)

n.

An infectious, usually fatal bacterial disease of cattle and sometimes of sheep, goats, and swine, caused by Clostridium chauvoei and characterized by gas-containing swellings in the musculature.

Veterinary medicine An often lethal disease of young calves and sheep, characterised by a settling of gelatinous matter in the extremities and neck caused by Clostridium chauvoei, the spores of which can live in the soil for years and which are ingested and enter the blood via defects in the gastrointestinal mucosa