HOG CHOLERA 



CHAPTER I 



HISTORY AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 



HOG cholera seems to have appeared first on 

 American soil in 1833, at which time an outbreak 

 of the disease was reported in the Ohio valley. 

 It is not definitely known whether the malady orig- 

 inated in this country or in Europe, but it is 

 a rather significant fact that the wild hog has 

 flourished in Eurasia, and not in North America, 

 in spite of the fact that the fauna of the two 

 continents are in most other respects very closely 

 related. It is also of special significance that the 

 earliest authentic report we have of the disease 

 in this country was made at a time when railroads 

 were first being put into operation. It is there- 

 fore possible that it really existed in America 

 prior to that time, and that lack of facilities for 

 its rapid spread prevented it from assuming the 

 proportions of an epizootic. 



It is true that as early as 1822 an epizootic dis- 

 ease resembling hog cholera was reported in 



