142 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



recommended in previous reports, consisting in gathering together on certain 

 farms reacting cattle from several herds with the view of keeping them and 

 using them under such conditions that they may return a certain amount of 

 profit without risk that they may spread disease. The vaccination of cattle 

 against tuberculosis would also enter prominently into such a plan. 



The work that is now being done in relation to tuberculosis of cattle is pro- 

 ducing marked results and there is a steady diminution in the prevalence of 

 tuberculosis throughout the State, as is shown by such fragmentary and com- 

 posite evidence as is available. But the problem is too large for the present 

 machinery. It is unsatisfactory to this office to be able to do so little when 

 so much is asked for and required. It is unsatisfactory and disappointing to 

 herd owners to he told that their herds cannot be tested and tuberculosis erad- 

 icated from among their cattle on account of the limited resources of the Board. 

 If more money for this work cannot be found, then the present plan must con- 

 tinue; it is giving good results and is carrying us steadily, although slowly, in 

 the right direction. There can be no doubt, however that it would be good pub- 

 lic policy to respond more fully to the demands from every quarter that tuljer- 

 culosis of cattle shall be repressed at a more rapid rate than is now possible. 



RABIES. During the past j^ear the presence of rabies has been reported in the 

 following named counties: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Berks, But- 

 ler, Bucks, Cambria, Chester, Columbia, Delaware, Fayette, Greene, In- 

 diana, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Philadelphia, 

 Susquehanna, Venango, Washington, Westmoreland and Wyoming. It will 

 be seen that twenty-five counties have been involved. The greatest number of 

 cases have occurred in the counties of Delaware, Chester and Westmoreland. 

 Seven hundred and tweny-nine dogs have been destroyed on account of infection 

 by rabies or violation of quarantine. General quarantines were established in 

 sixteen districts. These quarantines apply to all dogs in prescribed districts and 

 remain in force lOQ days. Five hundred and sixty-nine dogs were quarantined 

 by the service of individual notices upon their owners. 



Where rabies is reported, an effort is ..^ways made to secure the head of the 

 suspectrd animal for laboratory examination. It may be shot or otherwise des- 

 troyed by any one. Where the quarantined district includes a city or borough, 

 an effort is always made to secure the cooperation of the city or borough au- 

 thorities in tlie establishment and enforcement of the quarantine within their 

 field of jurisdiction. 



By these means, extensive outbreaks of rabies have been prevented during 

 the past yenr. The disease, however, is widely distributed and it is only by 

 constant watchfulness that it is kept from spreading extensively. 



There have been numerous instances during the year that have shown the im- 

 portance and value of the quarantine that have been established. Dogs muz- 

 zled or confined have often developed rabies after they were placed under re- 

 straint. When it was found that they were afflicted with rabies they were, of 

 course, destroyed, and as they had no opportunity to bite other animals they 

 did not become factors in the dissemination of the disease. 



Some well meaning but misinformed persons oppose the quarantine, muzzling, 

 or confinement of dogs during outbreaks of rabies because they contend that this 

 restraint may produce rabies in the restricted animals. There is not one par- 

 ticle of evidence that can possibly be found to support such ridiculous views, 

 which are totally erroneous. Rabies has been entirely exterminated in England, 

 where it prevailed extensively for many years, by a general, compulsory muz- 

 zling order. All dogs in England were required to be muzzled or kept under 

 proper restraint. Those that l^ecame infected with rabies were unable to convey 

 the disease to other dogs and so rabies became extinct. 



While all mammals are subject to rabies, the dog is the chief factor in the dis- 

 semination and perpetuation of the disease. It is not possible for other animals, 

 if rabid, to roam and convey infection to the extent that the dog does, therefore 

 if rabies were fully controlled in dogs it would soon die out among other spe- 

 cies of animals. 



It may seem to be trivial, but it is necessary to again remark that rabies is 

 produced only by inoculation, and usually from the saliva, that is. by tlie bite 

 of a raliid animal. It is not a disease that originates spontaneously or that is 

 produced by any other cause than direct or indirect inoculation from an infected 

 beast. Therefore, v>'hen rabies is once extinguished within a district or coun- 

 try it does not re-appear unless the virus of the disease is brought in from 

 without and the virus is thus transferred in the body of an infected animal. 



This knowledge as to the impossibility of the spontaneous origin of rabies 

 and as to the way in which it is distributed is not at all discredited by the 

 fact that there is no knowledge as to the probable origin of the disease. What 

 we know, beyond peradventure, is that rabies cannot occur without the occur- 

 rence of a previous case from which the infection producing the existing case 

 was derived. Just as we know that wheat cannot be grown unless wheat is 

 planted, we know that rabies cannot occur unless the virus of the disease is 

 implanted in the tissues of a susceptible animal. We do not know where the 

 first case of rabies caine from, nor do we know the source of the first wheat 

 planted. These facts are being more widely distributed and accepted and this 

 makes it possible to secure more active co-operation from the public in the en- 

 forcement of rabies quarantines. 



