Infectious necrotic hepatitis

Infectious necrotic hepatitis is a disease of large animals, especially sheep, caused by Clostridium novyi infection. The primary infection is intestinal and transferred by the faecal-oral route. Spores of C. novyi escape from the gut and lodge in the liver where they remain dormant until some injury creates anaerobic conditions for them to germinate causing local necrosis and widespread damage to the microvascular system resulting in subcutaneous bleeding and blackening of the skin, hence the common name, "black disease."