BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 311 



With the general adoption of better methods of producing, market- 

 ing, and handling eggs, it is easily possible to reduce greatly the losses 

 and to bring about great improvement in the quality of eggs on the 

 market, to the common benefit of farmers, dealers, and consumers. 



THE STUDY AND ERADICATION OF ANIMAL DISEASES. 



The scientific investigation of animal diseases and the administra- 

 tive work of eradicating certain contagious diseases have been con- 

 tinued with good results. The particulars of these lines of work 

 appear in the following pages under the headings of the various divi- 

 sions. 



During the fiscal year an area of 22,827 square miles was added to 

 the territory that has been released from quarantine after having been 

 freed from the southern cattle ticks that spread Texas fever, and 

 since the close of the fiscal year 5,0GG additional square miles have 

 been released, bringing the total territory freed of ticks and released 

 from quarantine since this work was undertaken in 1906 up to 

 167,714 square miles. This area is greater than the combined size of 

 Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, and amounts to nearly one-fourth 

 of the total infected territory at the time the work was begun. 



Progress was also made in the eradication of scabies of sheep and 

 cattle. Twenty-one counties and parts of five counties in Kentucky, 

 comprising about 9,177 square miles, were released from the sheep- 

 scabies quarantine. 



Malta fever has been found to exist among goats and people in 

 certain sections of Texas and New Mexico. A comprehensive inquiry 

 into the extent of this infection is to be made in the near future, and 

 it is hoped that some method can be devised for preventing the 

 spread of the disease and bringing about its eradication. As this 

 disease is a serious one in man, it should be eradicated as promptly 

 as possible. 



Among the most important scientific work of the ^-ear has been that 

 relating to contagious abortion of cows. The losses caused by this 

 trouble are probably Heavier than has been realized. The bureau 

 investigators have discovered that the germs causing this disease fre- 

 quently occur in milk and are sometimes also found in the tonsils of 

 children, presumably having been conveyed there in milk. The germs 

 cause di.-tinct lesions when inoculated into guinea pigs. Just what 

 bearing this organism may have on human health is not yet known, 

 but in the present state of our knowledge it seems that we have an 

 additional reason for advocating the pasteurization of milk. Our 

 studies are being devoted to the further elucidation of the disease and 

 the working out of methods of prevention. 



The complement-fixation test has been found increasingly useful 

 in the diagnosis of certain diseases. Its use has been developed and 

 extended by the bureau's investigations. This test has now been suc- 

 cessfully employed in the diagnosis of glanders, dourine, Malta fever, 

 infectious abortion, and hemorrhagic septicemia. Because of its 

 accuracy and the promptness with which it can be executed, this test is 

 a great advance over methods formerly available. 



Foot-and-mouth disease is one of the principal infex^tions against 

 which we have to guard in protecting the live stock of this country 



