The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1905-06-23
DANGERS OF CATTLE ruBEKcuLos1s.

Tuberculin Test and Better Sanitary Con-
ditions as q Means of Preventing Spread
of the Disease.
Tuberculosis in cattle is serious men
ace to the dairy interests of the state
and the Importance of the tuberculin
test as a means of preventing the spread
of this deadly cattle plague are empba-
sized in the latest bulletin of the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin Experiment Station,
just prepared by Prof. Fl. L. Russell of
the department of dairy bacteriology
If the farmers and dairymen of the state
neglect the simple precaution of making
this tuberculin test, the bulletin points
out, there is serious danger of the cattle
and dairy interests of the state suffering
large financial loss
An examination of the surroundings
on one farm showed we'll constructed
barns and stables, which we're kept in
clean and sanitary manner, but no pro-
vision was made for ventilation, and this
was undoubtedly the cause of the wide
spread dissemination of the disease. In
the stable the organism of tuberculosis
retains it's vitality for many months, and
where the barn is tightly built, With no
system of ventilation, and is occupied
by such large herd, the conditions be-
come ideal for the distribution of the
disease germ from animal to animal if it
is once introduced. In a thoroughly
we'll ventilated barn, much of the di.
seased matter would be carried off in
the polluted air, but where animals are
forced to breathe the air over and over
again until it reeks with moisture, they
become predisposed to the disease, and
if the tubercle bacillus is present are
likely to become infected. Doubtless
the tuberculosis was brought into the
barn by buying new cattle in previous
years, one or more animals of which had
the germs of the disease in their systems
but not advanced far enough to permit
ready recognition of it. When once in
PRODUCED into this environment the d.
sease spread rapidly, with the result
that in the course of few years it was
necessary to destroy all of the herd.
The method of determining whether
cattle are tuberculous is omparative-
ly simple one. The temperature of the
animal is taken several times during the
day to obtain the usual normal range
which may sometimes huctuate one or
two degrees. By means of hypodermic
syringe the tuberculin is injected during
the evening, and the temperature again
taken about ten hours after injection,
this process being repeated four or five
times at intervals of two hours. 1t the
temperatures after injection rise two or
more degrees above the average normal
and are maintained for some hours the
test is regarded as positive proof of the
existence of tuberculous LESSONS, although
nothing can be foretold as to the extent
of the disease in the animals.
This disease is the most devastating
animal plague with which Wisconsin
farmers have to contend. OF the seventy
herds examined by the State Live Stock
Sanitary Board for the years 1903 1904,
forty-nine were found affected. In the
two and one-half years, from December,
1902, to May, 1905, twenty-one herds of
933 animals were examined, in which 5l8
or 55 per cent. we're found TO be tuber-
culous. If such widespread infection as
these examinations indicate were found
in all herds, the stock interests of the
country would be on the verge of bank,
give by any means all of the cases. To
gained so strong foothold costs many
Y
No man who is engaged in the bust
ness of stock raising, whether for gen.
eral or dairy purposes, Professor Russell
points out, can afford to leave his herd
INFESTED. Even if he ignores entirely
the public health aspect of the question,
an aspect which, of course, should be
considered by the milk producer, and re-
CARDS the question purely from an eco
nomic point of view, every farmer should
have his herd tested to ascertain its
present condition and should further
test all new animals bought. $50 long
as Wisconsin farmers are content to let
their herds go without finding out for
certain whether this insidious disease is
present or not" the bulletin concludes,
$50 long will the disease continue to
thrive unrecognized. 1t will never be
stamped out completely unless stockmen
are willing to investigate their own
herds"