Annual Report for 1912 of Royal Veterinary College. 271 



was dealt with by the local authorities was 1892, and in that 

 year the reported outbreaks numbered 2,748 and the swine 

 attacked 13,957. As will be seen from the Table, the past 

 year was worse than 1892 in respect of the number of outbreaks, 

 and it probably was also worse as regards the number of 

 animals attacked.' 



It has sometimes been maintained that the returns with 

 regard to the prevalence of this disease are untrustworthy, 

 being vitiated by the inclusion of many cases wrongly diagnosed 

 as swine fever, and that it is therefore not certain that the disease 

 has actually increased within recent years. A perusal of the 

 evidence given by witnesses who appeared before the Depai-t- 

 mental Committee shows that this contention absolutely broke 

 down, and there is therefore no reason to suppose that the 

 proportion of errors in diagnosis is serious, or to doubt the 

 general trustworthiness of the published statistics as a measure 

 of the prevalence of disease from year to year. 



The fact appears to be that the difficulties in the way of 

 stamping out swine fever were not fully appreciated when the 

 Board of Agriculture was urged to take the disease in hand 

 with that object. The greatest obstacle to stamping out is the 

 difficulty of diagnosing the disease during life, and this arises 

 from the fact that its existence is by no means always mani- 

 fested by visible signs of ill-health. Concealment of disease is 

 therefore often easy, and suspected animals may often be sold 

 with but little risk of detection. When this is true of any 

 disease that is highly contagious, its eradication can only be 

 effected by drastic measures involving the prompt slaughter 

 of both diseased and suspected animals, severe restrictions 

 on movement in affected areas, and serious penalties for 

 concealment of disease. 



Sheep Scab. 

 The number of reported outbreaks of this disease during 

 the last six years were : — 



Tear Outbreaks 



1907 751 



1908 849 



1909 685 



1910 556 



1911 434 



1912 302 



It is apparent from these figures that the methods of 

 dealing with the disease which have been in operation for the 

 last few years, and especially the compulsory dipping of sheep, 

 have had a marked effect. In respect of the small number of 



' The official returns do not show the exact number of animals attacked, 

 but during 1912 39,653 swine were slaughtered as diseased or exposed to 

 infection. 



