SWINE FEVER

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXIX, Issue 12142, 10 August 1903, Page 4

SWINE FEVER

ANNUAL CAUSE OP LOSS. |F - ," Swine Fever," said Mr J. A. Gilruth, I|'\_ Chief Veterinarian, in his recent lecture Ki to farmeis at Palmerston North, "it a E/ disease which in Great Britain and Ame- [§"''' nca paiUuulaily is an annual caiise of fi ! -'" much loss to the pig breeder. Although sp not unknown in the colony, and though §v a few years ago it bade lair to become P a very serious pest to the dairy farmer and trthers, who were going into the lucra§L tive business of pig-breeding, yet to-day BE we can congratulate ourselves on having g. ' succeeded, to all intents, in our endeavours W" *- to eradicate a disease which has apparently §? baffled'those in authority elsewhere. 3r* " Outbiae of this colony the efforts of j f- scientific research have been applied to but fi> a slight extent in the battle with, swine; & fever It is now some years since the §£" specific cause—a bacillus—was isolated, g' first in America and then in Great Britain. % But even to-day the experts in these counfta- tries only consider the disease to be true, % •>' swine fevei when the changes caused by] % - the microbe are found present in thei pip bowels in the colony, on the contrary, gs, we have demonstrated by the most exfe" haustive and conclusive proofs, that the §& * . disease may manifest itself in the lungs ft-, alone, anc' leave the intestines practically & healthy .. ' . W "This proot was gamed by isolating the lWr microbe iroui the lungs of such cases, culfff tivating it artificially through successive &■* stages, feeding the cultures to pigs and % * producing the intestinal form of the disease. K" Furthermoie, that this produced the true & 1 disease was admitte* by the highest augf * thorities of Great Britain when specimens r were submitted for their opinion. t" " It is in consequence of the wider view ¥ of this disease, I am confident that we ¥>■, have succeeded so satisfactorily in our I " afforts to cope with this disease. And not ? * alone do we rest on the appearance to the naked e\" of the changes that have taken t place in the symptoms. During my in- '£ vestigations here I discovered that the §£ blood ot ->n affect Ed animal possessed the P?~ peculiar property of stopping the move- #» l ments r- Hving bacilli and causing them S? to colli >n small clusters when added f- to cultiues in certain small proportions, fF>„ whereas the blood of an unaffected animal | had no =uch effect. This peculiarity has a' been u&ed as a test for the disease in leases % where th* symptoms, post-mortem appearP ances, aud other circumstances were indefinrte, and the results have been most satis- &" T fsctorv P "While I was elaborating this test it KL is inteicting to note that the bacteriology gist oi the Umted States Department of ft I Agncultmc made a similar discovery, as $ proved u, his reports. In that country, £ /fiowevLi "'o far as lam aware, this test * has no beea utilised in.the general roui tine of di ignosis ["■ •■* "In ji uition, to this, instead of insistS v ing on lU t ompkte destruction of all pigs 6 affected md in contact during an out- \ break, mk i a3 occurs in England, we have "" attained most excellent results by isolate f tion ol t'n .on affected, gradual slaughter -7 r of all tlie minals as they fattened, through \ disiiif€-'i<n, etc, etc., a course which, ' \ while beni,; tmcacious, has entailed but Y litt'e 1 >.- b-rt'i to the individual and to g. the Stati. pi "Ac cm i\ampl3 of how serious this di- &_, sea&e > 11> hen ine, although in Great Ens'" tain an A n sased irarfare has been waged, y against ic bv tie authorities, yet in 1899W" 2300 ouinicihs occurred, necessitating the |? slaughiei ol 30,797 pigs; in 1900, 1940 6< t outbreaks itie recorded, and 17,433 pigs W- died or oie slaughtered; in 1901 there % were 3140 jiubieaks and 15,237 pigs died Ji-" or were s'nightered; while last year the |. figures weit niuced to 1699 outbreaks and g, 8263 f -*" loss to fa e piju'ucer when the cost of the jt" detection vi-ion, etc., etc., is added, t the rfcauH u\ he : wages of this disease it Igr will be fci. \1 cicver it gets a hold is very ;£ ' serious ; s " Takn t tie number of pigs in the co-s Jf* louy, I i 1 tlere is about a tenth of the nun h ot those in "Great Britain %' (200,000 o in iu 300,000 odd), and afisnming > tie disecc-v leached the same propor"--- * tions us it l - hi Great ,Britain, on the |"> iigures ci 10C9 i would mean 230 out- | y "breaks, and Jie Jwth by disease or slaught t ier oi o\ef 3ijoo pigs, and such propore. lions would have been inevitably reached f% .had it not been for the vigilance exercised |T by the Department based on its scientific &' jeswrches " Thfe Tran \ail Ctbvernment will shortly |j negotiate 'i tie Governments of Cape I Colony, 2« i, tae Orange River Colony, 8 r and Bi'otij i plii view to offering an f fldequ< te p i/<_ f ji the discovery of a prac- | | tical proven lie I horse sickness and red- j Z Vfater fever nis estimated j;hat fiveIt- sixths ot i>i> rti Airica uninhabitable for % ' hor»es owint n* oise-sickness, which carnes off at 1c 2c;),000 horses every year. f£ The Transva.iL Government's suggestion is "I p to offei a pn e of £25,000 for a cure. ' \ In. the rceinti ne is likely that Dr Koch, ?* who is now m 11.-:)clesia, will be asked to co-operate v>j 'i jji Theiller, who is carry--1 mg on resea'tn m the Transvaal as to both &- diseases I _ln the Ku-m i l'ost"Office a watchful eye | |. is kept on all newspapers and magazines, \ and any nuitei officially considered objectionabie ruthlessly " blacked out." A £/. shnilar siu-vei'lance is" extended to private £ correspondence The task undertaken, t is a giganbe one, but the Russian official g system has p>o\ed itself equal to the unit dertaking Tu every post-office of importft ance there are officials who form what is % called the "Bl k k Cabinet," whose duty it' ( ' is to examine the letters received. Ac- * cording to +he "-y-tem followed in the Mosf-\ cow post o'fice all the letters are handed 7 oyer to the " Black Cabinet." Then one &, official sorts out ill those which are adf dressed to suspected families, another all ji those addressed u suspected handwritings', ** while a third arranges the remainder in little heaps, and then draws at random ec several Idteis from* each heap. All the , letters selected in these various ways are ? then opened uid imined. In this ingeni- '?- ons way the Russinn Government strives |. \ to keep a coitiruil check on the free ini, terconr'.e of i r s subjects, and it is not surI" .prising that " underground " means of commnnicut'on have be°.D developed. J. Neglect alw vs Laneerous.— -to the ave- | rage man it seems childish to doctor a cold, and un'ess it becomes particularly anroymg to him little or no lattention is i given it Often i cold contracted in the ? winter a- ailov eci o rim until the opening r of spnng T l ns is a grave mistake, -as even thnrcli tin weather may bring % rehef, tin. stein is thereby weakened and C rendered susceptible tn disease. A cold should never be neglected, whether it be t acl ' cr iz idult who is afflicted, as health and ofte i life is risked. A bottle of ChimberL in Cough Remedy, costing ' but a smdl nmonnt vrill bring speedy re- 1 f lief' and by its nil danfrerous conset-- qnences will be avoided. For sale by & J. C Oddie —(Advt.)