The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-07-09
HOW CATTLE TICKS
SPREAD TEXAS FEVER
By Exterminating the Ticks the Dis
ease Can be Stamped Out and
the Quarantine Removed.

IA The microscopic parasite which
u causes the disease known as Texas
II fever or tick fever of cattle is found
IA in the blood Of affected animals and
Ris transferred from one to another by
n means OF the fever tick. A remarkable
feature Of this transaction is that the
3 isease- producing parasites are trans
;tted through the eggs Of the tick
at draws the blood. and not directly
&y the old tick. as an engorged tick
fter dropping from the host (cow)
without ever attaching itself to
Eother animal. But its offspring
Boduced by the eggs laid after It
ops off and before it dies. carry
infection and inoculate the first
ov they get or.
Hid The length Of time elapsing be-
tween the exposure Of susceptible
cattle to infection by ticks and the
appearance Of Texas fever among
N them is dependent upon the climate
md the development Of the ticks.
hus, if northern cattle are placed
In pastures, highways: or in pens:
Aars. etc.. in summer Immediately
bfter the premises have been infested
eEi1h ticks from southern cattle. Texas
fever may occur in from thirty to
#sixty days, as the female ticks which
y drop from southern cattle must lay
eggs and these must hatch before the
northern animal becomes infested
with ticks and thereby inoculated
with the disease. After the seed ticks
become attached to the animal the
disease will appear in about ten days
in summer or a somewhat longer pc
Rod in winter. In fact, the disease
nav occur before the ticks are large
enough to be seen without very
careful search.
One objection that has been ad-
vanced against the fact that the cat
tie tick is a carrier Of Texas fever Is
that cattle are sometimes found to be
suffering with the disease without
showing the presence of ticks on their
bodies. This condition in the case OF
southern cattle may be explained by
the fact that the animal already had
its blood infected with the parasites
and under normal conditions was re-
sistant to Texas fever; however, as
result Of lowered vitality caused by
some other disease, or by exposure,
] privation, injury, rough handling,
etc.. this resistance has been reduced
and finally overcome, and the para
sites at last succeed in producing the
disease. On the other hand, when this
disease is observed in northern am
mails, the young seed ticks may be so
small and so few in number as to be
unobserved.
Under certain conditions, as when
living on horses. mules. etc., the ticks
lose their infectiousneSs. and when
southern cattle not previously infest-
ed with any but these non-infectlous
ticks once come in contact with lnfec-
t;ous ticks they are just as susceptible
as cattle raised on tick-free pastures.
Many cattle appear perfectly
healthy and yet are infested with
ticks and have the fever parasite IN
their blood. Sometimes the owners
cannot understand why such animals
should be regarded as dangerous to
others, and consider it unjust that
they should be subjected to quaran-
fine restrictions. The fact IS that
such cattle have usually contracted
the disease in a very mild form at an
j early age and have become immune
L to further attacks. although still car
/ rvble the parasites in their blood.
1&hev are dangerous because the fever
parasites in their blood may be trans
mitted at any time to susceptible cat
tie by ticks.
While the disease may be produced
artifcially by inoculating a suScept-
i5le animal with the blood of an IN
fected one, it is spread naturally only
by the ticks. By exterminstlng the
ticks, therefore, the disease can be
stamped out, and the quarantine can
then be removed.
The discovery Of the part played
b. the tick in the spread Of Texas
fever was made by the Bureau OF
Animal Industry Of the United States
Department Of Agriculture IN 1891,
and the same principle has since been
found TO apply to the Transmission
of malaria and yellow fever from
man 70 man by mosquitoes. and 70 the