The record-union., 1892-03-02
Anthrax, Its Treatment, Etc

EDS. RECORD UNION: With your per-
lnissionI would like to make a few re-
marks on the disease called anthrax.
anthrax is, without exception, the most
fatal disease known to science. 1t is
characterized by chills, great depression
end stupor of the animal, and profound
alteration of the blood, due to destruction
Of the red blood corpuscles. It is caused
by admission into the animal body of
bacteria, or low order of living organisms,
or their spores, known as the "bacillis
fnthracis.' 1t affects all animals ex-
POSED TO its contagion. The herbivora
are especially susceptible in the follow
ing order: The sheep, the OK and the
horse. The guinea pig, the hog, the rab-
lit and other animals die quickly from
its effects. Man, the dog and other ON
nivora and earnivora may be attacked by
il in a constitutional form as fatal as in
the herbivora, but, fortunately, in some
cases develop from IL only local trouble,
followed by recovery. Fowls may be in
Oculated and develop the disease, if they
are partially immersed in cold water to
reduce their temperature from l04o to
I, bout 99o or 1902 Fab. Frogs may be in
oculated successfully if Kept in warm
water, which will elevate their body tenn
perature TO one approxinfating that of
warm blooded animals, $50 Fab.
Anthrax has been the scourge of the
animals of the civilized world since the
first written history we have of any of
their diseases. BY writers of the middle
fges il was frequently contounded with
1inderpest, but is described with suf-
1,cient precision to identify outbreaks of
it in epizootic form in 996 A. d. and 1880
- D. in France; at Lucca, Italy in 1852:
in 1917 at Naples, where numbers of hui
man beings died from eating the flesh of
;nimals which were affected with the dis
NH,1N 49,, yNf or,f.r -, 80
Cicted the sale of meat, butter or cheese
coming from animals affected with an
thrax. In the first half of the present
century it had become an extensively
spread disease in Russia, Holland and
England, and for the last century has
been gradually spreading in the United
States. In 1864, in the five Governments
Of st. Petersburg, Novgorod, 0lonetez,
sswer and Jaroslaw in Russia, over ten
thousand horses and nearly one thousand
persons persisted from the disease.
The causes of anthrax were for long
time attributed entirely to climatic inhu-
enee, soil and atmospheric temperature.
and they are still recognized as most pre-
oisposfng factors in the development of
the disease, for il is usually found, espe-
Ciaily when outbreaks over any number
If animals occur, in low, damp, marshy
countries during the warm seasons. It is
more frequent IN districts where InarShy
lands dry out during the heat OF summer,
and are then covered with light rains
lleeaying vegetable matter seems most
favorable for nourishing and preserving
: the virus.
The direct cause OF anthrax is always
contnpion or infection Of a previously
sound animal, either directly from q dis
eased animal or through various media
which contain eNcretions or debris from
fhe body Of q previously infected animal.
when eliminated from the animal in the
excretions or when exposed to outside
Influences by the death of the animal and
the disintegration or the tissues, the
Germ which is in the form of Il rod, with
5 bright spot or spore at either end, is de-
stroved, all but the spores. These spores,
,yl,iah are the germs Of ihe virus, retain