The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-06-12

By MRS. JOHN c. MOSES.
 ''T. B." in the flock does not stand for
 talented breadwinners.' It signifies that the fowl are afflicted with tuberculosis. which means that the flock as a unit must Ego west" Halfway measures are futile in fighting tuberculosis, as there is no treatment of any avail against the disease in poultry. The one practical course is to kill off the whole flock with
 maximum expedition and immediately thereafter to disinfect thoroughly all the houses and runs.
 Tuberculosis of fowls is chronic, con- tagious disease, characterized by the de- velopment of nodules called tubercles Tn various organs of the body, but most frequently in the liver, spleen and lntes- tines T. B. of fowls is readily com ! municated to most species of birds and to several species of mammals, but it is almost impossible to communicate the tu- bercuiosis of man and cattle to foWls. Parrots and the smaller caged birds are
 very susceptible to human tuberculosis. 1 however, and are often affected by it.
 T. B. INTRODUCED BY PURCHASE i Tuberculosis is generally introduced into
 the poultry yard by fowls purchased from infected f1ocks, or by eggs of diseased | birds that are obtained for matching. l If the disease exists in neighboring I small birds or animals passing from one yard to another. A peculiarity of tuber- | culosis of birds is that the liver ana m l testines are nearly always very severely affected, and that, as a consequence, the
 bacilli are very numerous in the intestinal 1 contents and are scattered with the drop pings everywhere that the fowl go The 1 lintrcduction of a single diseased blrd, l therefore may cause the infection of the greater part of the flock in few weeks. In the same way, when wild blros con tract the disease, the bacllll are carried and deposited in all the yards which they visit.
 The eggs of diseased birds frequently
 contain the bacilli, as has been proved by the inoculation of material from sucn | eggs into susceptible governmental anl mals. The young chicks matched from
 such infected eggs are diseased when they
 leave the shell and of course, soon lnfec' the poultry with which they run. More
 over. since the infertile incubated eggs . are often fed to chickens, it is eviden
 that even the eggs which do not hatcf
 may introduce the contagion unless they are cooked before feeding. PES, cats
 rats and mice are especially liable 10 p' , infected with fowl tuberculosis rom eat
 ing the carcasses of birds which hav' , died to the extent that these animals transmit the contagion to other fowls
 Even calves and colts are sometime
 found suffering from this form of tuoer I culosis
 | NO EARLY EXTERNAL EVIDENCE For the most part there are no externa , symptoms of T. B. in the flock until tn
 disease has reached an advanced stag of development. Then the birds pegil to show a gradual los sof weight, vast
 ing of muscles, paleness of the comb ana
 toward the end, dullness and sleeplhesS is al
 t,berculous inflammation of the Jolnt : and of the sheaths of tendons. which l revealed by lameness, swelling or .h joints and legs, and sometimes by tn ? formation of hard, external tumors O considerable size. Occasionally the SKI f over the swollen joints breaks, the III | terior of the joint is Liberated, and . small quantity of pus containing larg : numbers of tubercle bacilli is discharged Swellings and bony enlargements or 'h