HOG CHOLERA AND MEAT INSPECTION 209 



hog cholera virus, and that uncooked portions of 

 it fed to susceptible hogs will produce cholera. 



Of the various preserving and preparing proc- 

 esses to which pork is subjected before being 

 sent to the consumer, only one that we know of 

 cooking is certain to destroy hog cholera virus 

 which it may contain. According to extensive 

 experiments * which we have carried out the virus 

 lives in fresh meat until decomposition sets in, it 

 is not affected by prolonged refrigeration, and a 

 representative sugar curing and smoking process 

 killed it in only 43 per cent of the tests made. 



So far we have dealt chiefly with the facts sur- 

 rounding hog cholera and meat inspection as they 

 have been determined by exact scientific methods 

 and recorded data. It remains to be added that 

 clinical observations are entirely in accord with 

 these facts. We hear of one outbreak of hog chol- 

 era in Canada, and it is traced to a consignment 

 of infected hams ; we hear of another in a remote 

 lumber camp in the Adirondacks where hogs are 

 kept to consume the kitchen refuse; and of still 

 another on an inaccessible farm in Nevada follow- 

 ing purchases of market pork. These are merely 

 representative instances. At least 90 per cent of 

 the outbreaks we encounter in New York can be 

 traced to no other source than infected pork trim- 



1 Report of New York State Veterinary College 1915-1916, page 

 60. 



