HOG CIIOLEKA 329 



Tlio disease is due to an oltramicroscopic organism that 



gains entrance to the body by way of the digestive tract 

 or through the broken skin. The causal organism is elim- 

 inated from the body in the feees and urine. All breeds 

 of hogs are susceptible to the disease. It has been claimed 

 by some that the mule-footed hogs would not acquire it, 

 but experience has shown this statement to have no basis 

 of fact. 



Symptoms. The disease may appear as a typical blood- 

 poisoning or sept icemia. as an intestinal infection, as a 

 lung trouble, or in any combination of the three. It was 

 formerly supposed that there was more than one disease 

 that affected hogs: but, as methods of prevention have been 

 devised, it has been found that all respond to the same 

 treatment and hence must be caused by the same organism. 

 The symptoms vary with the different manifestations of 

 the dJM',. 



The first hogs to die in any outbreak do so after having 

 shown signs of illness a short time. It will usually be 

 observed that the sick hogs fail to eat. are affected with 

 chills, and huddle together in the pens to keep warm. 

 They stand with back' arched and with the hind feet close 

 together or crossed. They show stiffness of the muscles 

 and joints, and may stagirer and fall from weakness. The 

 skin of ears, nose, abdomen, and that inside the thighs 

 may be reddened. The early stages are marked by consti- 

 pation, followed by a profuse diarrhea in which the feces 

 have an offensive odor. If the lungs are affected, a hack- 

 ing cough is noted and an increased respiration. The eye- 

 lids ;jre often stuck together by a purulent discharge. The 

 temperature is increased, reaching from 104 to 109 F. 

 If the attack is of longer duration, as in the chronic form, 

 there is more marked evidence of digestive disturbances. 

 Animals with chronic cholera become emaciated, the hair 



