The Prescott daily news., 1915-12-07
THE DOG AS A CARRIER
 OF DISEASE TO STOCK

 dog in the country is useful and pleasant adjunct to the farm. if he is controlled and cared for but when neglected may readily become carrier of disease to stock in addition to gaining opportunity to kill sheep and destroy gardens and other proper ty. Dog ordinances as a general rule, have been intended chiefly to curb the dogs power of doing harm by attack ing, biting, killing or running sheep or stock. The part that he plays as a carrier of diseases to animals only recently has been recognized, accord ing to the zoologists of the Depart ment of Agriculture, who believe that when this is better understood, rural ordinances and laws which lessen this danger will gain the support of the community.
 Of the diseases carried to stock by dogs, the footand-mouth disease is probably the greatest interest at this time. In this case the dog acts as a mechanical carrier of infection. The dog which runs across an infected farm easily may carry in the dirt on his feet the virus of this most con- tagious of animal diseases to other farms and thus spread the disease to the neighboring herds. In infected localities it is absolutely essential, therefore, to keep all dogs chained and never to allow them off the farm except on leash.
 There are, however, many other maladies in the spread of which the dog takes an active part. In Bulle- tin 260 of the United States Depart ment of Agriculture, "The Dog as a Carrier of Parasites and Disease it is pointed out that rabies, hydatid, ringworm, favus, double -pored tape worm, roundworm, and tongueworm are often conveyed to human beings in this way. It occasionally happens al so that the dog helps fieas and ticks in transmitting bubonic plague or the deadly spotted fever.
 Hydatid disease is caused by the presence in the liver, kidneys, brain, lungs, and other organs, of the bladder worm or larval tapeworm. Bladder worms are often as large as an orange and may be larger. A dog which is allowed to feed on carrion or the raw viscera of slaughtered animals may
 eat all or part of a bladder worm containing numerous tapeworm heads.
 These tapeworm heads develop into small segmented tapeworms in the in-
 testines of the dog. The tapeworms
 in turn develop eggs which are pass
 ed out in the excrement of the dog Theyare spread broadcast on grass and in drinking water where animals can very well eat them and thus become infected. The hog is particularly lia-
 ble to this disease because of it's root ing habits. The eggs may get into
 human food and persons who allow dogs to lick their hands and face also run the risk of getting the eggs of the tapeworm in their systems.
 Prevention on the farm consists in so restraining the dog that he can get at carrion or raw viscera. Viscesa should be boiled before being fed to dogs and should never be thrown on the fields. If not cooked and fed, viscera and carcasses should be burn ed buried with lime, or so disposed of as not to be accessible to dogs. Pro- per feeding of the dog is essential, and the owner who does not feed dog properly has no right to keep one.
 The parasite which causes gid in sheep somewhat resembles the hydatid worm. A dog allowed to eat the grain of a giddy sheep may swallow this parasite and later distribute the eggs of the resulting tapeworm over the pasture. Sheep while grazing swal- low the eggs with the grass which they eat In the case of sheep dogs it is important to administer vermifuges often to keep them free of these worms. In the case of sheep measles, the bladder worm in the meat, typi- cal of this disease, is swallowed by the dog and again the tapeworm eggs are passed by the dog to grass or water, and there are eaten by sheep.
 Of the external parasites which dogs may carry to animals, beas and the various kinds of ticks are both