The Semi-weekly leader. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1905-1941, 1915-08-28
DANGEROUS CATTLE DISEASES.
Anthrax and BIackIeg are Prevalent
in State Remedies Given
for the Outbreak.

than foot and mouth disease was
the way DR.. +. M. Ranck, state
veterinarian. expressed the preva-
lence of anthrax and black leg in
Mississippi at the preseSt time.
DR.. Ranck has just returned from
tour of inspection of the state,
investigating the extent of the
outbreaks among the cattle. He
has the following to say as to rem
edies for those outbreaks:
"Black leg and anthrax are the
two diseases at the present time
giving the cattle. men the most
trouble in the state of Mississippi.
They are both easily carried by
dogs and birds eating dead animals
which have died from these dis
eases and in some instances are
spread by flies and people walking
over infected pastures and then on
other pastures that non-lmmuDed
animals are grazing upon. The
symptoms of anthrax in some IN
stances are not easily distinguished
for the reason that the animals die
before any peculiar symptoms are
noticed. In black leg. the disease
nearly always affects one quarter or
one leg which swells up very rap
idly and in the growth of the
germ under the skin it produces a
formation of gas which Crackles
under hand when pressing on the
swollen part. Those diseases are
both caused by spore forming
germs and these spores are very
difficult to destroy. For that rea-
son it is best not to bury the ami
mails but to burn them. Animals
that are exposed to this disaese
should be vaccinated at once and
pastures that are known to be in
fected in previous years on which
live stock are grazing should al
ways be regarded as suspicious
places and all cattle should be vac
cinated every year.
ATTACKS YOUNG ANIMALS.
''In the case of black leg the dis
ease usually attacks animals under
three years of age, while in anthrax
it is liable to produce death in any
aged animals.
Furthermore, black leg is cen
fined to young cattle, while anthrax
will attack mules and horses as
we'll as horned stock. IL case an
animal had died from either of
these diseases and it has not been
discovered in time to cremate it.
it is advisable to fence off around
the place on which the animal died
so as to keep other animals from
grazing thereon and sprinkle freely
over the spot so as to kill the vege-
tatiUn at that place:
1T has been noticed recently
that stray dogs will carry bone
from diseased carcass a Ions dis
tance and has Conclusively been
proved that flies of the biting vari-
ETY. will transmit this disease.
One can readily see how easy it
would be to infect new premises,
especially if dog carried the bone
to his masters house and the flies.
after eating on the bone. would
bite one of the people. This has
occurred in a number of instances
and has even produced death in the
human family.
THE treatment for these diseases
is in the form of vaccine. Those
vaccIpes are manufactured and dis
tributed by biological houses and
are efficient in producing an i'm
munity in the lower animals, ii
properly used. They can be secur-
ed from wholesale drug houses
through the local druggist and
should be used by trained people
because in some instances accidents
have occurred through the careless
OIL ignorant use of them. The
proper way to purn an animal is to
dig trench several feet wide and
several feet deep and as long as
necessary to accommodate the num-
ber Of dead animals and in this
trench should be placed lot Of dry
wood over which should be placed
some iron bars or gren polls and on
top of them the bodies of the ami
mails should be placed. On top of
all a lot of dry wuod should be pill
ed, the entire mass sprinkled with
coal oil and set on fire.