No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 109 



field, Erie, Iluutingdon, Lycoming, Montgomery, Potter, Somerset, 

 Susquelianna, Wayne, Warren, Westmoreland, Wyoming and York. 

 134 farms in these counties were believed to be infected with black- 

 qnarter, because the disease has occurred upon them during recent 

 years, or because it has occurred under similar conditions on other 

 farms in the same neighborhood. 123 animals died on these farms 

 before vaccination was applied. 1,396 animals were vaccinated. 

 There were no deaths from blackleg follov\iug vaccination, so far 

 as is known. 



HEMOKRHAGIC SEPTICAEMIA. This disease occurred during 

 the year in the counties of Chester, Clearfield, Cumberland, Luzerne, 

 Potter, Tioga, Venango and Warren. 106 horses and cattle died. 

 Unfortunately, there is at present no means available for vaccinat- 

 ing cattle against this disease. It is believed that there is much 

 more hem.orrliagic septicaemia among cattle in Pennsylvania than 

 is reported, and that it is a common cause of death. Many cattle 

 and some horses pasture on mountain land, and it is in such regions 

 that the disease is most frequent. It appears to be probable that 

 animals become infected with the organisms of this disease very 

 much as they do with the organism of anthrax, that is through the 

 respiratory and the digestive tracts and through inoculation by 

 means of wounds in the skin. On account of the seat of the most 

 common lesions of the disease, there are some who believe that it is 

 by inhalation that infection most frequently occurs. The mode of 

 entrance of the germs of the disease is not of so much importance 

 as their source. As the disease is one of locality, it seems to be 

 probable that the soil may harbor the contagion. This points to the 

 necessity for disposing of the carcasses of infected animals in such 

 a way as to prevent the infection of the soil. All carcasses of 

 animals that die of hemorrhagic septicaemia, as well as all carcasses 

 of animals that die of anthrax or blackquarter, ought to be cremated 

 as close as possible at the spot where death occurs. The chronic 

 form of hemorrhagic septicaemia that is described in some of the 

 western states, and especially in Minnesota, has not been recognized 

 in Pennsylvania. The form of heraorrhasric septicaemia that occurs 

 here is acute and is characterized by the occurrence of numerous 

 small hemorrhages upon the serous membranes, in the lungs and in 

 the subcutaneous connective tissue, by serous and sometimes bloody 

 infiltration in the connective tissue about the larynx, the throat and 

 the head, and by small hemorrhages upon the intestines. The lungs 

 frequently show acute pneumonia accompained by serous infiltra- 

 tion in the interlobular connective tissue. A symptom that is 

 occassionally observed is hemorrhages through the skin, occuring 

 as fine drops, as though the skin had been pricked with a needle 



The disease is nearly always fatal. 



Additional laboratory studies of this disease are urgently needed, 

 and are being made as opportunity offers. 



Each reported case is investigated and advice is given as to the 

 removal of cattle from infected lands, as to their quarantine until 

 the period of incubation is past before removal to uninfected farms, 

 and as to the proper disposal of carcasses. 



