The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1912-02-17


are found tuberculous.
The aggregate losses among cattle
and hogs is enormous; amounting to
of dollars each year, besides
decreasing the food supply OF the coun-
try materially.
Danger of Infection.
Turning to the other aspect of the |
case the danger of infection of human |
beings with tuberculosis, we have only |
to consider few facts to realize Its
vital Importance to a community.
Milk is the staple food of infants and
young children and is usually taken in
the raw state. II this milk Is from a
tuberculous COW, it may contain mil
lions of tubercule germs. Young |
children fed on such milk often con
tract the disease, and it is frequent
cause of death among them. This is
why almost all large cities have en-
acted laws prohibiting the sale OF
milk within their limits unless the
dairyman or people furnishing milk
to these cities, have their cows test
ed; and their cows are known to be
free from tuberculosis. They are re-
quired to show a certificate of the
test to the health officer of the city,
and a record of it is made and kept
by the board of health of that city.
The certificate must be approved by
the state veterinarian of the state in
which the dairyman lives, and the test
is required to be made by a graduate
veterinarian under the direction of the
tom that can be relied upon with GER
tainty in the living animal, any of the
symptoms may sometimes be caused
by some other disease, and none of
them are characteristic Of tubercu-
losis alone, except in the advanced
stages of this disease. Many of the
symptoms that are relied on by the
human physician in reaching his dag
nosis are not available in examining
cattle. The thickness of the skin
and chest wall for instance, makes it
difficult to detect a diseased condi-
ton Of the lungs by listening to the
breathing, whereas this is compare
lively easy in the human subject. 1t
must be remembered that cattle may
be very badly diseased and yet show
no outward symptoms of i'll health.
They may be fat and sleek, looking
the picture of health, while their lungs
and other organs are full of tuber-
cles. Such cases can only be detect
ed by the tuberculin test.
AS tuberculosis may attack any Or
gan of the body, we may have in each
case the symptoms connected with the
part affected as we'll as those affecting
the general state of the body as
whole. The animal is not doing as
fell as it should for the care and feed
1t is getting. It's coat is rough and
its skin has lost it's suppleness and
feels harsh and thick; along with the
unthriftiness is noticed gradual loss
of flesh; the animal gets thinner from
week to week. 1t appears to be pin
ing away, and such COWS are called
by dairymen, "piners" or MASTERS"
A cough is only present when the
lungs or some other part of the respir.
atory organs are affected. 1t is not a
loud, sonorous cough, but rather a sub
dued or infrequent one, and may be
heard only at such times as when the
stable is first opened in the morning
or when the animal is driven. At a
later stage of the disease it may be
heard at any time of the day. Most
OF the material coughed up from the
lungs is swallowed again, but many
germs escape from the mouth o.,
,,zz. 4. II - lid
~ 4ho - ..ay. Looseness
oo.41o -. OF Securing is seen in
:, "nected with tuberculosis of
va bowels This kind of securing
cannot be cure by any known treat
ment.
When tuberculosis attacks the I'D
der, no change can be detected at first,
but after a time hard Jumps can be
felt in some parts of the organ after
it is MIXED out. Milk from such an
udder should not be used, as it is GER
tain to be teeming with germs of the
disease.