386 GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF PIGS 



to those who should report suspected outbreaks of the disease 

 to do so without delay. 



It is pretty generally recognised that until a more thorough 

 system of cleaning and disinfecting railway waggons in 

 which pigs have been carried is instituted, the local stoppage of 

 pigs traffic from infected areas will only be partially successful. 



Symptoms. Costiveness in the first, and diarrhoea in the 

 later stages, dullness, shivering, great thirst, listlessness, the 

 skin covered with red and black patches, and the internal 

 organs more or less ulcerated. 



Treatment. Slaughter without delay, and burn the car- 

 cases by the aid of a few ounces of paraffin oil. Washing 

 out, disinfecting, and whitewashing contaminated places 

 must be resorted to, to destroy all the germs of the disease. 



Swine Erysipelas, produced by a bacillus, is not a 

 scheduled disease. 1 In the mild form of rash it is not un- 

 common in this country. It does little mischief except in 

 the rare instances in which it assumes, generally in hot 

 weather, the virulent type, as in the case of the outbreak in 

 Lincolnshire in July 1905. Then the symptoms of serious ill- 

 ness in pigs occur, viz.: "rise of temperature, shivering, loss of 

 appetite, and vomiting." Death may supervene in 24 to 48 

 hours, but generally a longer period passes. Post-mortem 

 " The membranes of the stomach and intestines show red 

 patches, and are often swollen. The intestinal glands on the 

 membrane are red and enlarged ; sometimes the surface over 

 these glands is abraded, but the distinct ulcer of Swine Fever 

 is never seen. The lymphatic glands throughout the body are 

 swollen and red. The spleen is often enlarged. The lungs 

 are congested." The few pigs which recover generally suffer 

 from lameness, the result of arthritis (inflammation of the 

 joints). Isolation and strict sanitation are essential to success 

 in combating the disease, as the bacillus lives long in the 

 ground. An attenuated virus, first prepared by Pasteur and 

 Thuillier in 1882, by passing the microbes in series through 

 rabbits, is unsatisfactory in that it is attended by considerable 

 risk of introducing the disease among healthy pigs, and 

 " immunity takes about a month to establish itself." By 



1 See The Report of Proceedings of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries for 1905 under the Diseases of Animals Acts, p. 20. Published 

 in 1906 at is., by Wyman & Sons, Limited, Fetter Lane, E.G. 



