Bisbee daily review., 1917-03-04

25 per cent cI the dairy cdttle are
 ! tubercular. in Missouri about lO Der
 cent. According to the data Of the i '. $. Bureau of Animal Industry one
 per cent of the beef cattle and two per cent of swine slaughtered under
 inspection of the United States are
 tubcrcular. During the fiscal year beginning July l, 1915. and ending June 20. 1916. i0.j06,775 swine were slaughtered under inspection; of these 74.l09 carcasses and 5l9,999 parts i were condemned for tuberculosis alone. During the same period g., ,0S5 carcasses and 5S.S73 parts of cattle , of the total number of 1887 I'll
 slaughtered under inspection were icOndemned for the same cause. Por-
 cine tuberculosis is apparently on the ] increase in the United States. Equine | tuberculosis is not common. IL is usually found in those horses and mules that have been fed on milk from tubercular cows. Tuberculosis l is very rare in sheep and still less in goats. Dog and cat tuberculosis is usually observed in pets of tubercular i people. although barn cats, especially
 those fed on milk from tubercular
 COWS. frequently become tubercular. ! This disease is more prevalent in fowls than Is ordinarily suspected. al though the percentage of affected birds is difficult to determine because there
 is at present no official inspection of
 fowls
 Source of infection.-The bacterium
 tuberculosis may b. transmitted from infected to healthy animals directly,
 but infection Is more frequently Ob-
 tained from infected foodstuffs, barns,
 feed racks, watering troughs, soil, etc.
 Tubercular animals are almost con
 stantly eliminating the bacterium
 which infects everything that the
 tubercular discharges contact. Some
 times the carcasses of animals dead of
 tuberculosis are thrown into rivers or
 creeks, thus injecting the water. The
 waste products of many small slaugh-
 ter houses are fed to hogs and this
 affords opportunity for them to be- come infected. The infectiousness of milk containing tubercle bacill bears an intimate relation to the occurrence of tuberculosis i'll swine which are fed on skim milk furnished by skim ming stations. The danger of feeding milk containing bacilli to calves is shown by the common experience that rn- quently in calves fed on sterilized milk than in calves that are permitted to suckle their infected mothers.
 Elimination. - Tuberculosis affects all tisues of the body and the Bacte- rum tuberculosis may not be eliminat- ed from the affected animal or it may be discharged in one or more of the secretions or excretions. It has been determined by the U, s. Department of Agriculture that about 40 per cent of tubercular cattle eliminate the Bac- terium tuberculosis in their faces. The s2me investigation also found that about 25 per cent of tubercular COWS, | regardless of the location of the le- sions, eliminate the Bacterium tuber- ru Jsis in their milk. These are facts | of prime importance in adopting means | for checking the progress or for sup presSion of the disease. The dis | charges from the respiratory organs | Df tubercular animals frequently con- |
 ain the infective organism, especially l If they have pulmonary lesions of the | disease. There are other chanels of l ....- nation besides those mentioned | put they are of minor importance.
 The two of the principal channels )f elimination in the case of the dairy cow that are of the greatest import lnce to man are: U the digestive
 ract, by means of it's eXcreta, and .2) the udder. through its secretion,
 he milk Granting that the figures )f the |. s. Department of Agricul .ure are correct, it must be conceded hat the danger to man of contracting his dreadful disease from dairy COWS through the medium of milk is very treat.
 First, let us consider the importance )f the danger that arises from the elimination of the micro-organism through the digestive tract in its ex- ,reta. Every man knows that the ! lyerage COW barn." unless it is un- Ter rigid official inspection. is a very filthy place at best. Usually the man. Ire is allowed to accumulate in the ,arn until it is quite deep. It is Smmon sight to see piles of manure ust outside the barn the year round. When this manure becomes dry parti- les of it in the form of dust are con tantly floating in the air, and lot
 If these particles laden as they may 'e with bacteria fiud their way into he open milk bucket at the time of hiking. Nor does the average dairy lan take the sanitary precaution of ,ashing the cows udders before he lilks them. The hairy surface of the dders accumulates dirt and this, un- ess the udder is washed carefully be- ore milking, is shaken into the milk ucket during the process of milking. most milk is dirty al hough We do not usually realize this act because of the disgUising color 4. sE n I