Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-09-24
SWINE DISEASE IN ENGLAND
Hogs Are Dying by Hundreds and
People Are Unable 90
Cure Them.

LONDON. sept 23.-(Speciul Cablegram to
The Bee. Great Britain IL suffering from
the ravages of a disease which threatens
to carry on all the hogs Of the United King
dom Pigs are already dying by hundreds
I'm the Cambridgeshire pens from a new and
mysterious disease. hitherto unknown In
the country
In the parish of Chatteris between 800 and
400 pigs have died within the past three
weeks. This would not be 20 bad in itself,
but the infected area is extending itself
with marvellous rapidity in every direction.
one Cf the greatest sufferers is young
farmer named Heading, who has on several
occasions had to bury fat swine score
at a time. A great pit is made and the
pigs are thrown in and covered with mould,
dug from the grave in readiness for the
next batch
Dozens of cottagers have lost their only
pig, and altogether the parish is in
panic. So terribly swift is the disease that
the veterinary surgeons are helpless. The
swine become drowsy. in short time they
are mass OF purple spots and death
usually occurs the following day.
The inspector of the Board of Agriculture
on one visit found nineteen large pigs.
worth SIS each, dead at farmhouse, and
three days later there were fifteen more
carcas ses.
! The disease is variously known as erysip-
| elias although 1t has nothing in common
with human erysipelas, except the redden-
ing of the skim, swine typhus and ST.
Anthonys fire.
/ 1t is also prevalent at the present time in
! Germany the Board of Health reporting
that the loss from 1t last year would
/ amount to over 100000 Whether II was
| imported from Germany or It had its
origin here cannot be determined by experts
at the present time.
No foreign pigs have come into the dis
trict but the malady may possibly have
been introduced by means of corn. When
It first apeared a few weeks ago It might
have been surrounded by clothes line,
says a veterinary surgeon, but the Board
of Agriculture did nothing and now there is
grave reason to fear that it will spread
over the whole country.
The disease is terribly contagious and the
germ is carried in the air as we'll as in the
clothes of attendants. by food, by water
drains. drugs. and even cats and flies. 1t
differs essentially from the old swine fever
The district in which the disease has
broken out is one Of the largest pig rearing
areas in England, but all the animals that
have escaped have been rushed off to mar
kets and few remain. Only one of the
hundreds of animals affected has recovered
There is not the slightest danger &c
human beings, even If the diseased hesf
is eaten, though the Board of Agriculture
has made every effort to prevent all dis
eased animals from finding their way tC
the market The Board of Agriculture has
|, also found that the disease is not trans
missable to cattle, horses or sheep.
Cablegrams received from the United
States indicate that the heads of Agricultu
raj departments in several of the states have
already heard Of the ~, break 81 England
and that they are watching it and that !
necessary they propose to send men owe
, here to study the disease and II possible
prevent It from being imported to America