CHAPTER VI 



DIAGNOSIS, DIFFERENTIAL DIAGNOSIS, PKOGNOSIS 



EARLY and correct diagnosis of hog cholera is 

 essential in coping with the disease effectively. 

 Often an entire herd is in jeopardy, and if hog 

 cholera is present prompt preventive measures 

 must be taken to save it. The diagnosis involves 

 no great difficulties when many hogs are sick, but 

 in the early days of an outbreak when peracute 

 or otherwise atypical cases are likely to occur, 

 puzzling situations arise which sometimes cause 

 costly delay. Thus in exceptional cases we are 

 justified in making a provisional diagnosis of hog 

 cholera, and in handling the herd in exactly the 

 same manner as we would were a positive diagno- 

 sis possible. Experience has taught that we 

 should not be too conservative in regard to taking 

 such a course when the history suggests the dis- 

 ease and when valuable animals are at stake. 



In seeking to determine the presence of hog 

 cholera we depend on four considerations: 



1. History of the outbreak. 



2. Symptoms. 



3. Lesions. 



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