482 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



The one great advantage from a hygienic standpoint which 

 the hand separator has over the public creamery is that the milk 

 from an infected herd is usually fed to the one lot of hogs, while 

 the skimmed milk from the creamery is generally all mixed to- 

 gether in a vat and each farmer takes back with him his pro rata of 

 skimmed milk, which is most likely to be produced by several herds 

 of other people's cattle. Hence the skimmed milk of but one tu- 

 berculous herd is liable, as a result of this practice, to contaminate 

 the entire product of the vat into which it is placed. For this rea- 

 son it behooves hog raisers to see that their skimmed milk has been 

 properly heated before they feed it, and the State authorities to 

 make such heating by creameries compulsory as a simple and easy 

 way of greatly reducing hog tuberculosis. (B. A. I. Cir. 144.) 



Infection Through Carcasses. It is an all too prevalent cus- 

 tom in. some sections for hog raisers to buy up all carcasses of ani- 

 mals that have died from various unknown causes and feed them 

 to their hogs. This is a fertile source of infection with parasites 

 and with whatever infectious disease the animal may perchance 

 have died. Several instances of tuberculous hogs being traced to 

 such an exposure have been found. A prominent example oc- 

 curred in an eastern abattoir where 31 out of 40 hogs were con- 

 demned for tuberculosis. When these animals were traced back to 

 the raiser it was found that he was running a large dairy and that 

 a dairy inspector had by clinical examination condemned one of 

 his cows for advanced tuberculosis. In order to save something, 

 as the owner stated, from the carcass, he hauled it out to the hog 

 pasture and allowed the hogs to consume it, with the above disas- 

 trous results. Hogs that had been previously raised by him had 

 never been condemned, and the lot in question were running on a 

 large pasture, separated from cattle, and apparently had no other 

 opportunity to become infected than by the condemned tubercu- 

 lous dairy cow. 



An equally dangerous source of infection is likewise observed 

 in the methods which obtain among some of the small country 

 slaughterhouses. It is not unusual for these houses to get rid of 

 their blood, intestines, viscera, and other inedible parts by feeding 

 them to hogs, a herd of which is usually kept on the premises. This 

 custom is pregnant with danger and is another fertile source for 

 perpetuating the infectious principle of various infectious and para- 

 sitic diseases. (B. A. I. B. 144.) 



Hogs readily contract tuberculosis through the ingestion of 

 infected food. The feces of cattle that swallow tubercle bacilli are 

 highly infectious for hogs that are exposed to them. The feces of 

 tuberculous cattle very probably contain numerous tubercle bacilli 

 that reach the intestine through swallowing or otherwise. (B. A. 

 I. B. 88.) 



Infection by Tuberculous Attendants. Attendants and care- 

 takers who feed and care for hogs should be free from tuberculosis, 

 since hogs are susceptible to human tuberculosis. Bang records the 

 appearance of tuberculosis among hogs on a farm where this dis 



