American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1915-02-25
CONTROL OF HOG CHOLERA.
(By DR.. Arthur Vance)

States. 1t is the greatest menace to
successful hog raising in our country
and is the most highly communicable
and the most generally prevalent dis
ease affecting swine. the avage of
this scourge often assuming the pro-
portions of a national calamity and
threatening to ruin one of principal
branches of animal husbandry.
Cholera is caused by an rltra-micro-
scopic virus or germ which is present
in the blood, the excreta and the car
casses of all infected animals. The dis
ease is spread in a number of ways,
by birds, dogs, running water, new
hogs introduced or on the shoes and
clothing of According to DR..
Dorset, n of our foremost experts
at Washington. d. c., the visitation of
neighbors carrying cholera germs on
their shoes from infected herds to nom
infected or clean herds. is responsible
for 33 per cent of outbreaks of chol-
era In the United States.
There is absolutely no question but
that hog cholera can be controlled
through the observance of a few sim
pie preventative measures, proper dia-
gnosis and the intelligent use of hog
cholera serum. Taking up the first re-
quirement, that of ~preventable meas
ures, we may first guard against i'm
pecially from the east. In the first
place l think it best TO leave the i'm
porting to our larger and more ex-
perienced breeders who are most like
ly to take the necessary precautions
to prevent introducing infection. 1t is
better for inexperienced individuals to
buy as neal home as possible and from
some reliable breeder. You very often
see advertised in agricultural papers,
30 called cholera immune hogs" that
have been v~accinated by the double or
simultaneous method. Always avoid
these hogs. for reasons that I shall
mention later. Buy your new stock
from farms that have been Wis
tied by an outbreak OF cholera, II pos
sible. Don't buy from farms where
cholera has existed within a year pre-
vious to your purchase. When you
bring your hogs home always keep
them In quarantine for at least thirty
days before turning them with any
other hogs. by which time they will
have developed .choaera. II they are 90
ing to themselves. Fenea your hogs
away from a running stream Of water,
especially II cholera exists above you.
and last, but by no means least, bar
the gates and doors to your hog lots
against visitors in times of cholera
outbreaks.
The second requirement Of which I
speak, that of diagnosis, is very i'm
portant but is nevertheless very often
neglected. When your hogs show
symptoms of illness or begin to die one
or two at a time. or in punches, the
very first thing to do is to find out the
cause Of their-death, and right here is
where the expert Is needed very urg-
emily. II your hogs have cholera you
ought to now 1t as soon as possible,
and every hog raiser In your commun-
ity ought to know 1t so as to guard
against its spread. Many a time farm
ers have treated their hogs for cholera
and it is always expensive. when they
did not have cholera at all. AS a con-
sequence they spend a lot Of money for
cholera serum for which they get nc
benefit. and the real cause OF the trout
BILE goes on undetected. Some hog
raisers might become, through much
experience with cholera. competent to
diagnose cholera but many are not,
though they think they are. Now let
us reason for just a minute on this sub
ject of diagnosis Of cholera, or the
same may be said Of other diseases.
There are several other conditions
or diseases that produce similar symp-
toms and similar changes In the DIFF
ferent tissues OF the body and may cas-
lily be mistaken for cholera. In order
to tell definitely that your trouble is
cholera you must be expert enough
TO know why 1t is not one OF those 9th
er diseases that produces similar con-
thtiDioiC 1Ou arc uOt Ca
pert in each and everyone of the other
diseases as you are I'm cholera, how
can you be sure that you have cholera
and have not one of the other diseases.
Having determined definitely that you
have cholera, the third ~preventable
measure of which I speak, that of the
intelligent use of cholera serum. pre-
sente itself.
There are two methods of vaccinat-
ing for cholera; the single or serum
method, and the double or simultan-
method. Hog cholera serum IL
a sort OF extract or product of the chol-
era germ but does not contain any OF
the germs and this material 10 used
only with the single method. With the
double or simultaneous method of
we use a product called
in addition to the serum. BY the
word virus is meant the active cause
Of a disease, Dr. the real live germs
that cause the disease. Hog cholera Is