STATE VETERINAKY ASSOCIATION. ' 28l9 



SU^r-AFAinZED REPORT OF THE STATE VETERINARIAN. 



By a. W. BiTTi.xr.. D. V. M.. M. D. 



- The following is a summarized report of tin* otRt-c of State Veterin- 

 arian for the year ending October 31, 19(^)3. 



The work of the State Veterinarian is naturally divided into two parts, 

 that of police control of certain contagions and infectious diseases, and 

 that of investigating such diseases a.s may seem ndvisal)le from an eco- 

 nomic standpoint. 



The work of police control lias been less than in the two preceding 

 years. There were only three outbreaks of glanders among horses, and 

 (xnly twelve were condemned, the first horse being destroyed at Denham. 

 Pulaski County. It had been Itrought into that localit.v from Illinois. 

 Three horses were destroyed at Butler, DeKalb County, and it is possible 

 that these may have been infected fi'om the outbreak that occiu-red in 

 that neighborhood the year before. The eight animals recently destroyed 

 in Allen County were owned by a contractor from Ohio, and were used 

 in the construction of railroad embankment. It is believed tliat there 

 has been little expostire to native horses by tliis camji. Tliose remaining 

 are in quarantine. The disease has been reported a number of times by 

 health officers, but happily upon investigation it has been found to be a 

 mistaken diagnosis. The disease most frequently taken tor glanders is 

 petechial fever. It is therefore evident that we are free f^-oni tliis disease 

 and that the oidy danger lies in bringing it in from without. 



The juimber of cases of sheep scab has been V(>ry materially lessened, 

 but still remains larger than it should be. A special effort was made to 

 trace the source of all cases reported witli the icsult tliat out of 4.r>0(; 

 cases, 4.101 had been obtained from the stock yards for feeding iiurjioses. 

 This leaves only 345 cases as having come from our own Hocks. It furtlier 

 shows that the strong measures that are taken to prevent the spread of 

 infection are defective in some details and tliat something yet remains 

 to be done. 



About one hundred cases of rabies are known to liave occurred last 

 year. Dogs, cattle, horses, and hogs have been the principal victims. Two 

 persons are known to have died. This disease is apparently upon tlie in- 

 crease. It is a trouble upon which there is much confusion in diagnosis 

 because of inaccurate, popular articles concerning it. The symptoms of 

 the trouble are much more chai'acteristic than of man.v other diseases 

 that are better known. There is no doubt, too, that inany cases of sup- 

 posed rabies is meningitis in some of its forms. This office Avill under- 

 take to set out the differences between this dise;ise and others in Avliich 

 the nervous element is a prominent feature, with the hope that it ni.iy 

 assist in making a jirojier recognition. 



19-Agri. 



