The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-04-02
Original Source of the 1n- lection Lies in the Ovary of the Hen-Treatment of Eggs, Chicks and Fowls as a PrecautiOn
By PROF. JAMES B. NORMAN
Former Expert for the United States De
 partment of Agriculture.


 partment of Agriculture.
 Copyright 1916.
 One of the worst diseases of young chicks is coccidiosis. commonly called whit diarrhoea., which is widespread and infectious The younger the chick the more liable is it to die from the disease It is very important therefore for poul- try Keepers to know the best means o1 protecting chicks against this disease.
 Though it is not generally known, ma ture female fowls are the original source of white diarrhoe. 1t arises in the ovary of the mother hen The ovary develops the yoIk of the egg. The danger of trans mission to young chicks comes when these eggs are affected by the spores of the parasite.
 Since the yolk forms the nourishment for the developing embryo during in- cubation, many chicks have the disease when matched But this is not the only danger White diarrhoea is easily trans mitted to well chicks in various ways, which can be clearly understood by study ing the organism which causes the dis. ease.
 CAUSE OF WHITE DIARRHOEA
 A minute animal parasite is the cause of white diarrhoea This organism lives and multipies within the intestines oi young chicks The physiological effect of the parasite is to destroy the cells in the food passage where the main diges- tive processes are carried on.
 In one stage of it's growth the parasite is passed from the diseased chick within IA ( i,e,t1 affected Then, if the soil contaminates either the food or the water, so that the spores of the parasite are swallowed by other chicks, they also become afflicted with the disease.
 The spores or cysts are resistant forms of the parasite. They pass with the excrement of an infected chick. If some cysts are swallowed by a well chick with food or water, they remain unchanged until they reach that part of the digestive tract called the duodenum. Here the spores escape from the cyst and attact themselves to the cells of the intestnes which they finally penetrate. Once in side, the parasite grows rapidly at the expense of the cell it has invaded. The life cycle of the spore is completed in about eight days.
 HOW THE DISEASE IS SPREAD
 Infection from chick to chick usually takes places during the first three or foul days of their life. This is the most critical period for the spread of the disease by external means. The droppings of affected chicks are the chief source of contaminating soil food and water. By this means the grass on an open poultry run, or the soil of a pen or yard is easily contaminated. When the droppings be- come dry they crumble and are blown from place to place by the wind Infected dust containing spores is deposited on the fooG plants of chickens or mature hens and thus they become diseased If the spores drop into the food or water where younger chicks are kept, outbreaks of the disease will occur among them Forty days of exposure of white diarrhoes spores in water does not destroy them Since young chicks are more susceptibl. to the disease than more mature birds protection of food and water against con- tamination becomes of the greatest inn portance.
 Infection is spread by older fowls one to the other. mainly by coming in contact with infected droppings. Birds, such as pigeons or sparrows, eat contaminated food, but the parasites pass through the bodies of small birds unchanged. The dropping of these birds in clean yards are liable to start new centers of infection. The cysts of white diarrhoea also pass