The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-01-13
Cause and Transmission of Texas
Cattle Fever.

Nothing positive was known IN re-
gard to either the cause of the disease
of the manner Of it's transmission until
the subject was taken up by the Bureau
of Animal Industry in 1889. Under
the general supervision of DR.. u. +.
Salmon, chief of the bureau, a sys-
tematic Investigation of the subject
was begun at the experiment station,
near the city of Washington. In the
laboratories of the station, one CT the
best pieces of biological research tnaS
this country has witnessed was earned
on by DR.. Theobald Smith, chief OF
the Division of Animal Pathology,
now a member of the Harvard medl
cal faculty. One of the most charac-
teristjc symptoms of Texas fever in it's
acute stages is the loss of blood,
which, passing off with the urine, has
given to the disease, in some coun-
tries. the name of "redwater. - 1t
has also been observed that the kid
news. liver, and especially the spleen
were greatly enlarged and engorgeo
with blood, from which fact the dis
ease is sometimes known as "spienetlc
fever, But DR.. Smith now demon
strated that the fever is not primarily
a disease of these organs, but OF the
blood. He discovered the presence of
a micro-parasite in the red corpIscles
of the blood, by which the corpuscle
itself is destroyed. There is an enor-
mus multiplication of these parasites
during the earlier stages of the dis
ease. resulting in the destruction Of
one-fourth to three-fourths Of the red
corpuscles. These dead corpuscles are
eliminated through the kidneys, and
give rise to the Characteristic symp-
toms of the disease. The same micro
organism was found in the blood of
healthy Southern cattle.
While these discoveries were being
made in the laboratories, equally I'M
portant results were reached in the
field experiments that we're being car
ried on at the same time. Under the
Immediate direction Of Dr.. +. L. Kill
hourne. a series of experiments was
carried on, covering period OF three
wears. for the purpose of determining
what part, if any, the cattle tick has
in the transmission of Texas fever.
From these experiments several I'M
portant facts we're de6nately establish
ed. It appeared that the plague always
broke out among Northern cattle
when they were allowed to run on pas
tures occupied by ticky" Southern
cattle. or over which ticks picked
from Southern cattle had been scatter
cd, The same results were obtained
when ticks were transferred directly
from Southern to Northern cattle. Not
only so, but even young ticks hatched
arti6cially, which had never been in
contact With Southern cattle, were
found to transmit the fever when they
were applied to Northern cattle or
were scattered over the pasture occu-
pied by them. On the other hano,
Southern cattle were found to be en-
tirely harmless if carefully cleared OF
ticks before being placed in the same
pastures with tie Northern animals.
II was proved that the fever could Ect
be contracted by taking the germs in
to the digestive tract, for large guam
titles Of ticks were fed to susceptible
animals along with their food with
ont the least sign of the disease. On
the other hand, it was found that the
disease could be readily transmitted
bg inoculating susceptible animals
with the blood drawn directly from
the veins of COWS suffering from the
disease. or with the blood drawn from
the veins of healthy Southern cattle,
thus proving that the disease germs are
always present in the blood of immune
Southern cattle. 1t is of interest to
note, in connection with the tick
theory, that the transmission OF dis
ease germs by means of parasites,
then entirely new, is now familiar to
Us all through tie discovery that the
mosquito is responsible for the spread
of malaria and yellow Tever.-from
'"The Texas Cattle Fever: dow Sclen-
ce is Winning Long Fight, by Pro-
fessor Charles Shirley Potts: IN tne
American Monthly Review of Reviews
for January.