The professional world. (Columbia, Mo.) 1901-192?, 1903-04-10
Many Cattle in Southern. Iowa Af-
flicted With Disease Like
Hydrophobia
NEARLY FATAL
State Veterinarian is Making Vigorous
Efforts to Check the
Disease

Des Moines, April S.-Governor
Cummins has been called upon to send
the state veterinarian into southern
Iowa to investigate a strange disease
that has been killing cattle by the doz-
en-, and whose ravages the veterinari-
ans in that section of the state have
been powerless to check. Wayne n
Decatur counties have been most dis
astrously affected. The township trus-
tees at Humeston, Wayne county, have
united in a demand that the state vet
%erinarian be sent to the scene of the
trouble under the section of the code
which makes it the veterinarians duty
to visit any part of the state upon
the written request of a majority of the
county supervisors, township trustees
or city councilmen interested.
The new disease has many symp-
toms similar to those of hydrophobia.
DR.. John j. Repp, a professor at the
state college at Ames, who is also one
of the deputies of the state veterinari-
an, has been called Upon for an opinion
by the farmers whose cattle have been
infected by the disease. From a de-
scription given him Prof. Repp decided
that the disease might be rabies, but
advised that an official investigation
by the veterinarian be asked for.
A local veterinarian at Garden
Grove, Decatur county, pronounced the
disease brain fever. The cattle froth-
ed at the mouth, bled from the nose
and were very fierce. They refuse to
eat or drink after being taken with
the disease. One man reported that
a COW that he had had for years tried
t4 nl;p,h into fha u,oonn IN nat OF him
when he drove through the barn yard.
The local veterinarian recommended
the application of turpentine to the
backs of the infected animals to slim
ulate the circulation of the blood and
take 1t away from the brain. Post-mor-
TEN examinations of the bodies of two.
of the cows were held and the investi-
gators reported that there was no eX-
cess Of blood at the brain, no signs of
/ poison in the stomach, and no other
condition that explained the cause of
e death.
: Captain j. S. Clark of Des Moines
has lost ten caIJle already by the raw
Y ages Of a strange disease. Captain
D Clark's farm is near the county line be-
tween Wayne and Decatur, and adjoin-
ing the Burlington railroad. zone of
o my men writes me that the people
n there are unable to solve the mystery
of the disease" said Captain Clark.
q "The trouble was first reported to me
q a month ago. At that time three cows
had been killed by the disease. Since
then ten more have been killed and
there is no let-up. My man reports
II that the disease is prevalent in other
n localities in that part of the state, and
that the farmers and stock men are
"a very much wrought up. He says that
the cattle act very much is if they were
p mad. They run about in a furious
state and pay no attention to fences
'e running over or through them invaria
bly,. One of them attacked him in the
n yard and he had difficulty in escaping
unhurt. The cattle live only about q
10 hours after they had been taken will
ie the aisease. There has been a mad
ne dog scare in that section Of The state
III but no one knows of any cattle having
ry been blIten, and it is not known how
ry the disease could spread among tn,
81 cattle. They don't bite, though the.
" are ferocious. They refuse to TAX
food or water"