INFECTIOUS ABORTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 8

INFECTIOUS ABORTION.

i There is reason to believe that the plagueof infectious abortion is as old as the domestication of animals. That it tyas known in the time of A.braham may be inferred from the boast made by Jacob, when» he preferred to dwell on the freedom froml it in Laba.n's herds to making mention o£ his successful scheme for the multiplication of the spotted and the ring-straked which! were his own portion. That nervous* influences affect the offspring was thus early recognised, and that abortion of the accidental or sporadic variety is caused byexcitement, fear, anger, or distress on the> part of the mother is well known. Had there been no accidental abortion we should have learned earlier to suspect infection, and fewer witches would have been burnedi for ' "overlooking" the flocks and herds, of persons supposed to come under their displeasure. It may surprise some readers to be told that even yet, with a generation! of "grown-ups" who have passed through the elementary schools, there are manypersons in the western counties who etilk secretly hold the veiw that their stock has been overlooked or pixie-led by the evil eye of some poor old eccentrio person in the neighbourhood. Despite our advances in hygiene, the . plague of abortion seems to increase and take a larger toll than in the days of the ill-ventilated and undrained cowhouse. To two principal causes this may be attributed — namely, the facilities of transit to auction, marts and the refinement of the breeds. The losses from abortion are incomparably greater than those due to glanders mr horses ; but it is a subject that does notj ! appeal to the general public, and therehas not been a Hunting to persistently, hammer at the door of the. Board of Agriculture for a whota generation until somerestrictive measures have been put in force. The publio safety is guarded by the excellent inspectors of meat, who now receive a scientific training in the detection of tuberculous carcases and the condemnation! of unfit meat at the abattoir, and the reporting of a few deaths of men from, glanders arouses a languid interest in the losses occasioned by glanders ; but abortion in cattle — well, that is only the concern of" the farmer, and "farmers always grumble." It does not, 60 far as the consumers are aware, affect the price of meat; but it ruins many a small man outright, and seriously diminishes the spending powers of the more wealthy agriculturists. If this much is granted, and it cannot be gainsaid*, the subject of abortion should be deemed one of national importance, and measures should b-s taken to isolate the infected. The cow that has warped a- calf should be deemed unfit to breed again, and earmarked for slaughter, unless there is good reason to believe that an accident was the cause, and not the specific bacillus of infectious abortion. Many small farmers are not alive to the imnortance of segregation of an aborter..

as well as unwilling or unable to effect such separation from the herd, and some are scarcely convinced of the existence of a specific bacillus as the cause. If they have abandoned the old-world beliefs in the production of abortion they have only arrived at an agnosticism which makes them fatalistic, or optimistic of better "luck," according to their individual temperament. If only these men suffered it would be bad enough; but, with no restrictions upon infected' aows, the ignorant and the indifferent send them to the pedigree bull which a generous landlord may keep for the benefit of his tenants, or patronise a neighbour's bull, who infects that neighbour's Jherd, some of whom will be sent to the pedigree animal, who becomes a centre and focus of infection for a whole district. When a second ox third calf is lost, the owner, thinking only of the best way to get out of a bad bargain, sends the empty cow to market, perhaps with a date at which she was stocked, and som© buyer, with more hope than experience, purchases her and infects his herd. The better informed and more scrupulous man, who fats off all aborted cows, is apt to forget that the presence of such an one in the market or fair may give rise to infection to a -'neighbour, for we have no means of measuring the exact degree of aerial infectiousness or carrying power of the bacillus; but we have seen beast after beast 'in the stalls at-markete pressing their rumps against the gate which has alreadq been soiled by a previous occupant, and, of course, no better means could be conoeived of direct contagion. Continental investigators have thrown much light on the nature of the malady, and first Bang, of Copenhagen, discovered, and later a .host of bacteriologists nave confirmed, the £act that ihe organism repose? in the deeper layers of the mucus membrane of the uterus, safe from the action of bactericides injected per vaginam, however industriously. The practice of injecting and attending to the external genitals as a means of disinfection is somewhat like the treatment of sewage at the outfall of a stricken city. If we are to stay the plague by treatment of the victims, w© must 6eek for remedies that -will destroy it at the source. Better far that inconvenience should be experienced in prevention. Treatment of the individual known to be infected must be on the plan adopted so successfully in regard to actinomycosis, familiarly known as "wooden tongue." The causal organism of this disease is the ray fungus, a pleomorphous bacterium, and belonging to cladothrix group of fission algae, or fission fungi (Bcstrom). These group together and form gritty nodules in the tongue and other structures ; but their preference for the tongue and the loss of mobility caused to the organ h&s given the popular name to the disease. It has been found that Bctinomyces cannot exist in the presence of iodine, and that topical treatment, cotufcined with so-called saturation of the blood with soluble iodides, as potassium iodide, is almost a specific in the treatment of animals, although less successful in the human subject. Thousands of animals are yearly saved by the iodine treatment, which has been made pretty generally known to readers of agricultural papers. Whether an antagonistic substance has been found in carbolic acid for the organism which causes abortion is still 'a matter of doubt, as no recognised authority has experimented end reported on treatment by saturation. The recommendations hithertq issued for bathing the genitals and irrigating the canal are so difficult to carry out in their entirety that many have failed to .pursue them, or some deterrent has occurred, 6uch as the neglect by a servant for * single day, that cowkeepers have despaired of a system requiring incessant personal supervision, and too often, of necessity, entrusted to men who do not believe in the utility of the measures adopted. The farm servant a» a rule is not the man to blindly obey orders he dees not comprehend or agree with, and the performance degenerates into a very perfunctory one if he is not enthusiastic in the cause. For some three years past we have had a number of herds under observation where carbolic saturation has been attempted, and this promises a good deal. We may say that in all the herds where the administration, has > been properly carried out abortion" has ceased. On the surface of it, this might seem proof positive of its success, but we have to remember^ that it is quite a general experience that after three years infectious aboTtion often ceases spontaneously or "wears itself out." and some of those who adopted the carbolic treatment would have already suffered much, and entered" upon the second or -even ■ third year before making trial of the method. As to the manner of procedure : One gentleman with a small herd of Jerseys ecmmencetl'by administering an ounce of pure acid without a demulcent of any kind, with the result that one cow died in half an hour and others were made ill. An ounce, then, is a dangerous dese, although s-uch quantities have been given without, apparent ill effects after saturation and when seme degree of resistance is established. The ofncial dose of 15 to 40 drops i 3 ridiculed by those who have experimented with it, 60 being found perfectly 6afe, and the amount gradually increased to ioz or 240 drops once a week. Given in linseed gruel or "tea." its irritant properties are neutralised. Contrary to expectation, mest cows are found willing to take carbolic acid in moist food. For a short time the odour is to be observed in the breath, but .users of the acid aprreo in stating that milk is not impaired either in taste or smell. The administration of carbolic acid is continued up to within a fortnight of calving, and resumed from two to three weeks afterwards.—Tne Field.