102 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc 



ANTHRAX AND BLACKLEG 



1. All cases of anthrax or blackleg, or the use of vaccine in controlling either 

 disease, must be reported promptly to the Board. 



2. Local veterinarians will be provided, free of cost, upon application, supplies 

 and instructions for controlling outbreaks of either disease. 



3. The Board will not pay the local veterinarian for services rendered in handling 

 or controlling either of these diseases. 



4. The free annual spring vaccinations cannot be continued, but the owner should 

 continue this work. The Board will furnish vaccine and report blanks free of 

 charge . 



RABIES 



1. The Board will not pay for procuring and shipping specimens to the laboratory. 

 Precautions necessary to prevent the spread of rabies will be taken by the Board. 



MISCELLANEOUS . 



Other transmissible diseases of animals coming under the jurisdiction of the Board 

 will be handled along lines indicated above. 



LABORATORY 



1. Specimens may be sent to the laboratory for diagnosis as in previous years. 



2. Extreme care should be exercised in packing and shipping such specimens. 

 During the hot weather many specimens decompose during shipment. In some 

 cases this might be avoided if properly packed in ice. 



3. Don't ship specimens so they will arrive at the laboratory Saturday after- 

 noon or Sunday. 



4. Ship all specimens direct to the State Livestock Sanitary Board, 39th Street 

 and Woodland Avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. Shipping charge must be prepaid. 



It will be noted that the principal change in the policy of hand- 

 ling transmissible diseases is the fact that veterinary services except 

 in special cases will be paid for by the owner. The Board, however, 

 continues to supply the necessary biological products and continues 

 to place its laboratory at the disposal of stock owners and veterin- 

 arians for the purpose of establishing diagnoses in connection with 

 diseases of animals. 



This change of policy, at first glance, may seem to place a great 

 burden upon stock owners; but the veterinarian's fee is often the 

 smaller portion of expense. In an outbreak of hog cholera for in- 

 stance the serum is furnished by the Board, free of expense, to the 

 owner. In the majority of states he must purchase it from com- 

 mercial firms or the State. 



The transmissible diseases which the Board is especially required 

 to control will be considered in their regular order. 



GLANDERS 



Glanders showed a slight increase during the year 1914. The 

 increase was especially observed in the large cities. For this reason 

 the Board decided to order the closing of all public troughs and 

 fountains in Philadelphia used for watering horses during the sea- 

 son. The results were generally satisfactory to the Board, horse 

 owners and the city authorities, yet some interested in humane work 

 especially felt that the order worked unnecessary hardship upon 

 drivers who could not or would not carry individual drinking 

 buckets. The plan of diagnosing and handling the disease was the 

 same as in the previous year. 



Our experience with ophthalmic raallein as a diagnostic agent had 

 proven so uniformly satisfactory that only in exceptional cases do 



