The Delta independent., 1907-11-29
TESTING DAIRY COWS.

presence of tuberculosis. 1t may be OF
interest to state briefly just what the
tuberculin test is.
While the White plague is the great
est of scourges of the human family,
causing twice the number of deaths
that diphtheria. typhoid fever, cancer,
meningitis, all combined, at the same
time, tuberculosis is the greatest OF
scourges in the bovine species.
The onset is frequently incidious,
and the animal may remain apparently
well when the disease is far advanced,
and all this time the injecting organism
(the GERM may be discharged in large
numbers from the body through the
different excretory channels, as well as
through the milk glands.
Scarcely request comes to the vet
erinary department of the Colorado
Agricultural College for inspecting
cows in Fort Collins, that the owner
does not vouchsafe the information
that he knows his COW is perfectly
healthy. But the fact is that he or no
one else can tell by any other means
than the tuberculin test as to whether
or not that COW is free from tubercu-
losis.
The tuberculin test consists in inject
ing the COW with tuberculin and noting
the rise in temperature. To DO this it
requires eight visits to the animal,
each time taking her temperature and
once inoculating her with the tuber-
culin. The temperature is taken sew
eral times the first day to establish the
normal and see that she is in fit con-
dition for the test. Late at night the
tuberculin IS injected. Ten hours after
the injection the temperature is taken
and two hours thereafter throughout
the day. it she shows an abnormal
rise Of temperature, it is a certain indi-
cation that she has tuberculosis This
test in the hands of a competent per-
son Is absolutely reliable. The tuber-
culin is the secreted product of the
germs Of tuberculosis with the germs
filtered out.
Professor Robert Koch, in the year
1890. first recommended the use of a
solution prepared from pure cultures
of the tuberculosis bacillus for the
treatment of tuberculosis in the human
family. 1t was not success, although
it is the only treatment given either by
incubation, ingestion or inhalation that
y . I, s
losis in the body and in any way dis
turbed them. Later it was tried as a
treatment for the disease in cattle. and
incidentally discovered that when inoc-
ulated into animals havipiohhe disease,
it exercised specific stimulating
action upon the tuberculosis germs,
producing a systematic reaction char
acterized by a marked rise in tempera-
ture.
The department of agriculture last
year distributed 500, 900 doses of tuber-
culin to state officials with the under
standing that they report results back
to Washington. These statistics show
the number of reacting animals rang
ing all the way from one to so per
cent. On the average, about five per
cent. 1t would appear, therefore, that
at least q ,o0o tuberculous cows have
been removed from our dairy herds
through the agency of the govern
mental distribution of tuberculin alone.
The following quotation is taken
from the Year Book of the department
of agriculture:
The consensus of scientific opinion
now is that bovine tuberculosis is
transmissible to man, and it is an I'M
doubted fact that tuberculous cattle
frequently discharge tuberculosis
bacilli through their bodies, even
though there be no apparent LESSONS
in the udder. A tuberculous COW may.
therefore. be source of real danger
to the people who partake of her milk,
and in the case of large dairies where
the milk from the whole herd is mixed
together, few tuberculous cows may
cause the contamination of large guam
titles of milk"
The results of the Investigations of
the department of agriculture, as
given forth in its last report, may be
summarized as follows:
(a) tuberculosis in cattle is trans
missible to the human.
(b) The tuberculin test is the only
possible way we have of determining
the disease in cattle.
(c) The tuberculin test has been
tried on hundreds of thousands of
cows, and in competent hands is per
fectly reliable.
I'D The bacill are often secreted