The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-11
DISEASES OF HOGS.
Farmers Listen to II Lecture by DIR.
Reynolds.

A number of farmers congregated in
Institute hall last evening to listen to
a lecture on matter that is of vital
Importance to them just now, the hog
cholera, by DR.. M. H. Reynolds, di-
rector of the veterinary department of
the state board of health. and pro-
fessOr of veterinary medicine at the
state university. o. c. Gregg presided
at the meeting. and spoke briefly on
the objects of the farmers institute, of
which he is the superintendent, and
the value of the hearty cooperation of
every farmer in the state in the work
DR.. Reynolds then spoke in brief as
fellows:
The state board of health is organ
lied for the purpose or prevention and
cure of diseases, and especially infec-
tious or conta gious diseases; the local
board must carry out the work in their
own particular neighborhoods. The
chairmen of town boards of supervis-
ors are the local health officers and in
to quarantine or destroy the infected
the matter of contagious diseases or
animals they are empowered by law
to quarantine or destroy the infected
animals as they may think best for the
interest of the community. 1t is high
ly essential that they enforce this, but
in many cases either through careless
ness or ignorance of their powers they
fail to do their duty.
There are two kinds of hog diseases,
both commonly called hog cholera; one
is hog cholera and the other is Swine
plague" but the diseases frequently
appear in the same herds at the same
time and then there Is a mixed infec-
ton. The cholera is an infectious
bowel disease and the swine plague is
an infectious form of pneumonia. The
mixed contagion shows both symptoms
of which the symptoms of the more
prominent disease are the most
marked: that is why the farmers say
that this is not like the hog cholera
they used to see back In Illinois and
Iowa. One disease is just as contag-
iOus and spreads as rapidly as the
other and local health officers should
deal with both alike.
The disease germs do not attack
other animals, but may be carried
from place to place by them; horse
or a dog may convey the dread mic
robes from one farm to another. or
they may be carried on peoples cloth
ing or shoes. When suspicious swine
disease breaks out in a neighbOrhood,
the adjoining farmers should not visit
those hog pens; they simply convey
the germs to their own pens by so do
ing.
When the plague or cholera first
breaks out, the first few cases usually
die very suddenly without showing
any symptoms then the others are at
tackled by a cough or by constipation,
Followed by a diarrhea, depending on
the disease; the skin becomes inflamed.
the ears scabby or swollen and, on
light colored hogs. the skin becomes
purple on the flank. The longer the
disease runs in a herd, the longer the
afflicted hogs live after being attacked.
Spend no money for medicine, it is
worthless and your money is simply
thrown away. Experiments are being
made with blood serum treatment, but
they are not yet beyond the expert
mental stage and their success has not
been established. The only thing the
farmer can do is to take the we'll hogs
out and leave the infected ones in the
pen; if any of the well hogs come down
with the disease, another partition is
necessary and so on until the disease
has run it's length. The mortality in
a herd when the disease breaks out
ranges from so to 80 per cent Hogs
running at large are more subject to
infection, but the results are seldom as
fatal.
Dead hogs should never be buried on
the edge of a pond or lake or close to
a running stream as the germs are
thus distributed. The law forbids that
sick hogs be driven or hauled along
public highway, or De eXpOSeu III
public place for sale.
1 wish to again emphasize the pre-
cautions against the spread of the dis
ease When any suspicious swine dis
ease appears in neighborhood the
first step is to quarantine the herd. A
great many supervisors think the mat
ter is not worth reporting until the
cholera has spread over six or eight .
farms; do not wait to make sure that
it is cholera before notifying the state
board of health. The Indifference ard
listlessness of the farmers and SUPER
visors is the most difficult feature to
encounter in the fight against the con-
tagion.
The cholera is now confined to the
southwestern and south-central parts
of the state and is, on the whole, un-
der better control than it was at this
time last year, but 1T is certainly bad
enough and is very serious. The dis
ease spreads less rapidly, and in fact
dies out in cold weather. but expert
ence indicates that the germs will live
for six months and outbreaks on the
same farm would lead to the beher
they live much longer under certain
conditions.