The Thibodaux sentinel. (Thibodaux, La.) 1905-1912, 1909-07-03
How Cattle Ticks Spread
Texas Fever.
By DISCRIMINATING the Ticks
the Disease Can be Stamp.
ed Out and the Quaran-
tine Removed.

The microscopic parasite which
caussr the disease known as Texa!
fever or tick fever of cattle is fount
in the blood Of affected ANIMALS ant
is transferred from one TO another by
means of the fever tick. 4 remark
able feature of this is that the dis
ease-producing parasites are trans.
nitted through the eggs of the tick
that draws the blood, and not directly
i by the old tick, as an engorged tick
after dropping from the host (cow,
dies without ever attaching itself t.
another animal. Bnt it offspring,
produced by the eggs laid after IL
drops of and before it dies, carry the
| infection and inoculate the first COW
they get on.
The length of time elapsing be-
tween the exposure Of susceptible cat
tie to infection oy ticks and the ap-
pearanee of Texas fever among them
is dependent upon the climate and
the development Of the ticks. Thus,
if northern cattle as placed on pas
lures, highways, or In pens, cars, ETC.,
in summer Immediately after the
premises have been infested with
ticks from southern cattle. Texas fe-
yer may occur,in from thirty to sixty
days, as the female ticks which drop
from southern cattle must lay eggs
and these must hatch before the north
ern 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 sum-
mer or a somewhat longer period in
WATER. In fact, the disease may oc-
cur before the ticks are large enough
to be seen without a very careful
search.
One objection that has been adj
vanced against the fact that the cattle
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 res
istant to Texas fever. however, as a
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 parasites at
last succeed IN producing the disease.
On the other hand, when this disease
is observed in northern animals, the
young seed ticks may be so small and
SO few in number as to be unobseryed.
Under certain conditions, as when
living ON horses, mules, etc, the ticks
lose their righteousness, and when
southern cattle not previously infested
with any but these noninfectious ticks
come in contact with infectious ticks
they are just as susceptible as cattle
raised on tick-free pastures.
Many cattle appear perfectly
healthy and yet are infested with
tick, and have the fever parasite in
their blood. Sometimes the owners
can not understand why such ANIMALS
should be regarded rs dangerous to
others, and consider 1t unjust that
they should subjected to quarantine
restrictions. The fact is that such
cattle have become immune to further
attacks, although still carrying the
parasites in tier blood. They are
dangerous because the fever parasites
in their blood may be transmitted at
any time to suspectib'e cattle by ticks.
While the disease may be produced
artiflcially 10y lnoculating suscepti-
bic animal with the blood of an in
fected one, it IS spread naturally only
by the ticks. By DISCRIMINATING the
tick, therefore, the disease can be
STAN ped out, and the quarantine can
then be removed.
The discovery Of the part played
by the tick in the spaead Of Texas fe-
yer was made by the Bureau of AMI
NAL Industry of the United States
Depar tment of Agriculture IN 1891,
and the same principle has since been
found to apply to the transmission OF
malaria and yellow fever from mau to
man by mosquitoes, and to the spread
OF certain other diseases.
Publications containing full lnfor-
nation about the ticks and giving di-
rections for getting rid OF them may
he stained free, on application to The
Bureau Of Animal Industry, Depart
ment of Agriculture, Washington,
D. G..