Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-12-31
HOG CHOLERA.

HOG CHOLERA.
omcial Directions for the PreveAtfon and
Cure Of the Scourge.
The Massachusetts, Commission ON
contagious diseases among domestic
animals have issued the following let
ter to the public:
So many cases of sickness among
swine have recently been reported, ata
so much alarm is felt by both feeders
and consumers, that it is deemed adj
visable to acquaint the public with
some of the facts regarding the swine
distemper commonly called hog
cholera, or the swine plague of
modern veterinarians. The disease is
not new. 1t used to be frequently
found prevailing among the store
swine driven from the Western States
to the Eastern markets, and some
years it was so prevalent at Brighton
that many farmers were deferred from
purchasing their supply of pigs for
feeding at market, or from any of the
droves which had come from the West.
AS the feeding of hogs in the West
has increased as an industry, this dis
ease has also increased 1t has been
so destructive during the past ten
years that the. United States Govern
ment, through its Department of
Agriculture, and otherwise, has ex-
pended freely for the services of eX-
perts to study and investigate it, and
it is to the researches of such veterin-
arians as Drs. Law, Detmers and Sal
mon that We have learned what little is
known regarding the nature of this
disease.
All authorities agree that the disease
(anthrax, swine plague, hog cholera,
or by whatever other name it may be
called) is highly contagious. and that
it owes its existence in any given local
ity, when found, to a seed planted, just
as much rs field of corn or patch OF
weeds by the roadside owe their exist
encc to seed planted. BY what means
the germs of hog cholera are conveyed
from one point to anOher in each par
ticular case, it is not always easy to de-
IL 10 pOSSIOlC luot w
carried upon the feet of rats or birds.
which frequent swine pens and migrate
from one locality to another. The eX-
crements and the scabs from surface
sores, when dried and ground to dust
may be picked up and carried to con-
siderable distances by strong winds.
and find Judgment in localities favora-
BILE to the spread of the disease. Brooks
and rivers may also carry the germs
to localities down the stream.
But the investigations of the COM
mission during the past few months in
which the disease has prevailed in Mas
sachusetts, point in but q single direc-
ton for its origin, and that to the
Western hogs which are brought to our
market weekly over the railroads.
ThC disease has been unusually prev
alent at some of the sources of supply
during the past year, and the nature of
the malady is such that it would be
next to an impossibillity to determine
to a certainty at the shipping points
that no hogs which had been exposed
to the disease were being received with
the healthy ones, nor is it always an
easy matter on the arrival of the hogs
at their destination to determine
whether certain ailing ones are affected
with the disease or only weak from
their long ride in crowded cars.
The most skillful veterinarian can
not in many cases pronounce upon the
disease without a post-mOrtem eXami-
nation, and not always then till the in.
testines have been cut open and their
inner surface exposed. precautiOn
not to be expected in ordinary practice
at the abattOirs.
With scarcely an exception. thus far,
no case of well-defincd hog cholera has
come to the notice of the Commission
ers that could not be traced to diseased
pork direct. or to city or other swill
which probably contained it in some
form or other. Beef has been high.
pork low, and at the cheaper class of
boarding-hOuses large consumption
of fresh pork would be expected. In
preparing it for the pot or the oven any
little bloody or discOlored bits would
naturally be trimmed off, and, with the
skin in some cases, be thrown in the
swill barrel, whence it goes to some
farm in the country to be fed to swine.
To allay any unreasonable fears con.
corning the use of Western pork, or
any pork as an article of food, it should
be stated that so far as known hog
cholera is never taken by man; and
further, that in case the germs of the
disease may exist in sample of pork,
the heat required for thoroughly cook
ing it would in all probability render
it safe food even for swine.
The obvious cautionary measures,
therefore, to be recommended both to
city consumers and farmers, are to
guard the swill barrels from receiving
any scraps or bits of raw pork or pork
blood, from any source whatever.
Farmers who collect swill should re-
fuse to receive it except from such FAM
lilies as can be trusted in the matter;
otherwise they should take the risk at
.heir own peril.
If the disease breaks out in herd,
keep the herd completely isolated as
long as danger exists. It is advisable
to separate the sick from the apparent
ly healthy. and to give the latter in
their food carbolic acid. ninety-five per
cent, at the rate of ten drops to each
one hundred and fifty pounds of live
hog, three times a day. This is not ex.