REPORT OF STATE VKTERINARIAN. 569 



community is a signal foi* a popular demand that immediate action be 

 taken to stamp it out. The presence of a suspect is sufficient to asli that 

 a state investigation be made. The losses from glanders is small com- 

 pared with that from contagious abortion, the danger of rapid dissemi- 

 nation of the former disease in a stable is slow as compared with that 

 of the latter in a herd, but the attitude toward control is wholly different. 

 In the case of contagious abortion the effort is to Iveep tlie matter (juii't. 

 If advice be sought it is always upon the supposition that no information 

 be given out. 



For several reasons this disease promises to become one of the most 

 difficult to control. It occurs most often in herds kept especially for 

 breeding purposes. The animals are high grade usually, in fine condition, 

 and present no distinctive indications by which a veterinarian can select 

 affected from healthy animals in the herd. The presence of the disease 

 and the extent to which it has affected a herd can only be determined 

 by the history furnished by the owner or herdsman. 



He may not see fit to impart a complete history, and thus the matter 

 rests. Whether the male may communicate the disease from one herd 

 to another is still a matter of dispute. How long infection remains with 

 and is capable of dissemination from one cow to another is still an un- 

 settled problem. How far a quarantine should be placed upon a herd, 

 upon all whether affected or not, and for what length of time, is a matter 

 that can not be settled fairly without a special investigation. Another 

 problem of equal importance is that of a determination of the injury to 

 the breeding powers after the attack by the disease. 



To what extent the disease prevails is not known. From May to this 

 date we have been asked to investigate nearly 200 cases occurring in 

 herds aggregating 700 cows. In some herds the loss was about forty-five 

 per cent, while in one it is as low as eight per cent. In two herds the 

 disease has now been in progress for about two years, and in three it 

 is in its first year. How long it will continue is not known. 



A very complete system of disinfection was begun as a line of treat- 

 ment. What the result of the treatment will be can not be determined 

 at this date. Some of the cattle show considerable injury as a result 

 of the attack and whether this is temporary or permanent can only be 

 determined by subsequent observations. Very complete studies have been 

 made upon the histology of the reproductive organs at all stages of foetal 

 development, and records made upon the pathological change in the foetal 

 membranes, but it has been deemed best to defer their publication until 

 further data becomes available. 



It is upon this disease that special investigation has been made as 

 provided under Section 2 of the act creating the Live Stock Sanitary 

 Law. 



