The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1912-07-05
FOWL TUBERCULOSIS.
By T. D. Beckwith, Oregon Agricul-
tural College.

tural College.
A disease which is becoming prev
alent in the poultry industry of the
Northwest is called avian tuberculosis
or tuberculosis of poultry. 1t is dis
ease which, like most Of the other dis
eases to which all higher animals are
susceptible, is due to a living cause, a
certain germ, which cannot affect a
healthy fowl unless it be carried to
that fowl by some method or other.
1t never generates spontaneously. 1t
is a disease which is fairly recent in
the United States, having been noted
in this country only in 1900, but it has
been prevalent in Europe for very
many years.
The disease is exceedingly difficult
to detect, for it is very slow in action
and it's spread has probably taken
place insidiously, so that it has be-
come thoroughly established by the
time the farmer is aware of its pres
ence. At first merely one or two birds
grow weak and slowly die, but later
the fatality increases SO that very
large percentage of whole fiocks may
be lost.
1t is disease which tends to attack
tame or domestic birds, such as chick
ems, rather than birds in the wild state,
since domestic fowls are living under
less natural conditions, where in very
many instances their freedom is linn
tied, and they do not have suffi-
cient quantity of fresh air in many
cases for the best condition of health.
| 1t is a disease which tends to attack
the adult fowl rather than chicks.
The disease is very similar to that
found in cattle, also to the disease
known as tuberculosis or consumption
found in human beings. The method
of action of it's germ is much the same
and there is great reason to believe
among scientific workers that 1t is not
| Impossible that the disease may pass
from man to fowl or from cattle to
man. 1t therefore has very great
importance in respect to human life.
In the symptoms of the disease,
which appear only after the disease is
well established, the birds very often
show emaciation and become droopy,
the feathers very often are ruffled, the
droppings become greenish In color
and the bird may go lame, due to
weakness of the legs from tubercu-
losis. Sometimes the comb or wattles
become pallid; the eyes may be bright
and also sunken; the appetite is likely
to become ravenous. There Is no spe-
cial symptom which may be cited, but
rather the diagnosis must be made
from combination of all of them
| In human tuberculosis, the lungs
are the most often attacked by the
disease and the other organs are there
fore very secondary in the total cases
of infection. In fowls, however, a diff,
ferent condition is found. The liver, in
almost all instances, shows tubercu'
losis appearance and the spleen, which
is a small body about one-half inch In
diameter, Just back of the liver, shows
Infection in almost as many cases. In
less than one-fifth of the cases do the
lungs appear to be affected in fowls
On cutting open tuberculosis bird
lit will be found that there are very
small yellowish spots, many times
slightly swollen, although not of ne
cessity the case, and which differ in
diameter from one-sixteenth to one
fourth inch. In consistency they are
cheesy, or they may appear to be
little imbedded areas of heavy fat, al
though pressure of the knife will show
the difference. Sometimes in older
cases they are gritty when cut with
the knife. These are the tubercles
which have been produced by the bac-
terra. They are the point where the
germs are growing and therefore are
the very centers from which the dis
ease germs work.
The disease is spread from bird to
bird through the droppings as the
germ finds it's way to the exterior by
this method. If, then, the chickens
be fed in dirty, filthy place and there
are already some tuberculosis birds
in the flock, it may easily be seen how
the disease may pass from one to the
other; also it may be passed by pick
| ing the bills of each other. Flies are
also without doubt factor in the
spread of the disease. The disease is
not transmitted from the egg in more
than small percentage of cases.
| There is no cure for the disease.
The bird does not react readily to tu-
berculin and therefore this method
cannot be used for detecting the dis
ease, although such method is OF
very great value for cattle. For small
focks the best method is to kill the
entire stock, give very thorough dis
infection, allow the land to lie for a
year, and then start again. 1t must
be remembered, and the point must
be emphasized, that birds which are
infected with this disease and which
die from it, or are killed when it is
suspected to get rid Of them, must be
burned. They must not be buried
where angle worms may carry the par
TALLY decomposed material to the sur
face to infect other birds, nor must
they be thrown into fence corners,
where birds as yet uninfected may
pick them and thus become infected
Disinfection of the premises in case
the stock is too large to be done away
with, is the only possible procedure,
and often that is not at all certain.
All suspicious birds must first be weed
ed out. The houses must be cleaned,
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