The Opelousas courier., 1889-03-02
BlG-HEAD IN CATTLE
How to Prevent the Spread of This Dis"
agreeable and Fatal Disease.


This disease, always fatal when it is
not checked at the beginning, is in
creasing with great rapidity among the
large herds of cattle and has become a
source of anxiety and alarm. 1t pre-
walls, too, to a large extent in dairies,
and especially among the most valu-
able pure breeds of COW kept for but
termaking and milk. Its peculiar nat
ure and it's unquestionable contagious
ness give to it an unusual Importance
and call for immediate attention. tits
hereditary, and is of a scrofulous char
acter; some veterinarians consider it to
be a variety of cancer, but this is some
what doubtful, considering the facts in
the case.
The first appearance of the disease
is hard swelling on the upper jaw or
the bones of the face; it rarely attacks
the lower jaw unless at the same time
the tongue and adjacent parts OF the
mouth are diseased. The hard SWELL
ing increases and in time supurates,
discharging a fetid pus mixed with
blood and leaving the peculiar odor of
decayed bone. This discharge irritates
the skin and causes sores and ulcers,
which eat away the tissues until the
bone is laid bare and the food escapes
through the opening. Finally the jaw
is eaten away and starvation ends the
animals life, if it has not h,n de-
stroyed by blood poisoning before this.
The cause of the disease has not been
well understood until within a few years
back, when it was found to be caused
by a peculiar parasitic growth, which
really eatg away and consumes the
ieshy and bony tissues, and which Is
conveyed from the diseased animal by
heredity or by contagion to others.
Cases have been known by the writer
In which the progeny of diseased ami
mails have been affected through sew
eral generations, until the young calves
were attacked and the ace ceased to
exist. Considering the nature of this
class of diseases, it is clear that this
disorder is encouraged and made pos
sible by mal-nutrition, a deficiency
of bone-making material weaken
ing the structure in a part where
it is most readily attacked by the
waiting organism, already lurking
in the mouth and among the teeth, and
very possibly finding subsistence in the
decaying organic matter which is al
ways found there. When the favora-
BILE conditions arise the parasites at
tack the bone or the tongue or the It's
sues eof the cheek and spread their
ravages from one to the other. The
disease is now known as Gctino n.y.
kosis, but more commonly al ''big
head" and is sometimes still called
osteo-surcomd. 1t attacks horses as
we'll as cattle. Do.
The treatment of a disease of this
character should clearly include and
begin with preventive measures.
These consist of the exclusion from
breeding herds of every diseased ami
NAL which. because of the serofulous
nature of the disease, should be put
safely under the ground assoon as
possible. No diseased COW 3hould
be bred; MOI should she be kept. as
the milk might and probably would
infect the calf, & eveE' persons
who might use it. although so
far. this disease has not become
an object of dread among physi-
clans, unless it may be thought
that the fatal cases of malignant dis
ease of the tongue Or throat which
have of late been SO conspicuous be-
cause of the high position of the suffer-
ers, and which is becoming more and
more common, have had their origin
in infection through the milk of dis
eased cows.
The disease is durable If treated in
its early stages. The writer knows of
| several cases which have been ccess
| fully treated at the beginning of the
| outbreak. The successful treatment
/ has consisted in the use of daily doses
of one ounce of hyposulphite of soda,
| continued in some instances for three
months before the disease was finally
and permanently cured. One typical
case was that of a heifer pregnant with
her first calf and under two years old.
Her dam, a pure-bred Jersey, had per-
ished of the disease, and the sire, a
pure Jersey bull, was slaughtered be-
| cause it was h~opelessly diseased. The
swelling appeared and discharged
the typical fetid pus in course
! of time, when the above treat
ment was used, and the dis
| charge slowly decreased, and finally
| stopped. The opening was maintained
Ind washed twice daily with warm wa
5er and carbolic soap by injection until
it healed BEAUTIFULLY and nothing re-
NAMED but a small, hard excrescence,
which is not painful, and is merely a
/ blemish. The heifer calved, and the
calf at two years of age gave no indica-
tons of being affected by the disease.
This heifer belonged to a valuable
strain of Jersey blood, and her escape
was worth a large sum to her owner.
The use of this antiseptic in this
class of diseases has been found ex-
ceedingly effective, and it is advisable
that it should be given to cattle that
are exposed to this special disease as
a means of avoiding the results of con-
tagion, whether inherited or not.
Sometimes this disease follows the
| dooou of a. tooth when the conditions
favorable to the attack of the parasitic