Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-07-25
An Alarming Disease in Kansas

On the plains of Texas, where count
less half wild cattle feed, and where
the air is dry and pure, lives an insect
known as the screw-worm fly. 1t is
small and active This fly is the terror
of the Texas cattle. The long-horned
brutes are quarrelsome. The males
fight savagely, sometimes to the death.
The females are far from being peaceful
animals. A fight between t-blooded
Texas cattle generally terminates in
one of the animals being severely
wounded. AS the smell of the blood
drifts down the winds, which ceaseless-
ly blow on the plains, it attracts the
screw flies, and they course through
the air, eagerly following the trail,
anxious to deposit their eggs in the
wound. These flies do not alight in
depositing their eggs, but as they fly
rapidly and closely to the injured ami
NAL, which evinces the utmost terror
when the buzz of doom fills the air,
they drop gelatinous substance which
adheres to the wound The eggs, to
the number of hundreds, are contained
in this substance. 1t is said by the
Texas cattle breeders that the eggs
hatch in twenty -four hours. Promptly
on Matching, the worms burrow into
the flesh of the living animals. More
flies deposit eggs. More screw worms
are hatched. They also burrow into
the flesh. A succession of crops OF
screw worms follows rapidly, and the
unfortunate animal is devoured alive,
as they honeycomb the flesh. The cat
tie, unable to endure the pain, become
crazy and roam the prairies, dangerous
members of bovine society, until death
LAYS his kind hand on them. | have
been informed by the cattle breeders
who Craze their stock on the staked
plains that the animals seem to realize
the danger they are in when wounded,
| and have been known to seek safety in
flight; but that the flies follow the
scent in the air as hounds follow fox,
and the wounded animals are generally
overtaken.
On the great plains lying eastward
of the Rocky Mountains and included
in the arid belt, cattle are bred on an
| extensive scale. 1t is not the custom
to close herd the stock in any portion
of the range. There is branding
roundup in the spring, a beef roundup
in the fall, and in Texas an additional
roundup preparatory to the spring drive
of salable cattle to the northern grazing
grounds During the greater portion
of the year the cattle roam at will. A
few cowboys ride the range and pre-
tend to keep note of the localities where
their employers brands are feeding. 1t
| can be easily seen that under this care
less management the losses resulting
from attacks Of screw worms can be
quite heavy, and still be unknown to
the owner of the brand. When cattle
are found suffering from the attacks of
these worms, they, if the tunnelling OF
the flesh has not progressed too far, are
thrown to the ground, and rude and
generally unsuccessful attempt is made
to exterminate the parasites by a free
use of citrine ointment. This ointment
will destroy the unmatched eggs, but
it's efficacy in killing the living worms
is in dispute.
The screw worm is little over ha If
an inch long. 1t is corrugated and ex-
ceedingly hard When put under the
point of knife and pressed upon the
worm slips from under the steel and
flies through the air as though made of
rubber. Imagine a white half-inch
screw having a pointed black head in
stead of the usual slotted one. That is
fair representation of the screw worm.
For years Texas cattle have been
driven to Kansas to feed on the grasses
of the plains lying in the arid belt.
For years they have been driven to the
northern portion of the Indiana Terri
tory to Craze on the untaxed ranges OF
that great grazing land. Until last
year there was no trouble in Kansas
from screw worms. The stories told
by Texas drivers of the suffering of the
cattle on the southern ranges made but
little impression on the men of Kansas.
That these flies would ever follow the
Texas cattle up the trails to the COM
paratively northern country of Kansas,
was unsuspected by the most gloomy
minded of the Kansas people. Even if
suspected, they meyer, in the most ap-
palling flights of their dark imagina-
tions, thought that the flies would
change their habits, and select the
nostrils of human beings to deposit
their eggs in, but such is the case.
1t is probable that the long continued
southwest winds of last summer
waited the flies from the vicinity of the
herds feeding south of Dodge City into
the more thickly settled portions of
Kansas. At any rate the mature flies
were far east of the "dead line," and
far north of the Arkansas River during
o portion of last summer. Several per-
sons were attacked by screw worms.
One of the cases that terminated fatally
was fully reported in the Kansas and
Missouri Valley Medical Mder. 1t
is worthy of note The patient had
long suffered from ozena. On the
evening of August %, 1882, this man
complained of tickling sensation at
the base of the nose, that was promptly
followed by exhaustive sneezing. This
in its turn was followed by intense pain
in the region of the eyes and cheeks.
The physician in attendance mistaken
ly supposed that the pain was the re-
suit of ozena. The discharge from the