278 Hoo- Cholera. 



exists it is certain tliat hi one of the otlier animals tliere will be 

 found intestinal or pnlmonary lesions pointing to the disease. 

 Chronic cases of hog cholera may be mistaken for tuber- 

 culosis ; a distinction is only possible by a bacteriological exami- 

 nation, unless the intestines contain the characteristic ulcera- 

 tions of hog cholera. 



Neither the allergic cutaneous, the ophthalnio-reaction, nor the complement 

 fixation method can be utilized for the diagnosis of hog cholera (Uhlenhuth and 

 others; the authors also failed to obtain satisfactory results with the second of 

 these methods). 



Course and Prognosis. The septicemic and the intestinal 

 form of hog cholera is considered among the less fatal dis- 

 eases, as it leads to recovery with relative frequency. In herds 

 infected with the mixed infection those animals usually recover 

 in which symptoms of a lung affection are absent or occur only 

 in a mild form. 



On the other hand the pectoral and the mixed form has a 

 much more malignant character, but even in these cases the 

 mortality fluctuates within wide limits. While in localities in 

 Avhich the disease has appeared for the first time, the mortality, 

 especially among the young hogs, may reach 80-90%, in later 

 years it will be much lower. In herds which are kept under 

 favorable hygienic conditions very frequently only 10-15% of 

 the animals may die, and by taking proper precautions it is 

 possible to reduce even this number. 



Herds in which cholera has already caused a loss of about 

 15% and over usually resist later infections permanently, there- 

 fore a repeated appearance of the disease in the same herd is 

 observed only very exceptionally. 



The ease reported by Toth is probably isolated, in which in a herd of 550 

 hogs 18% died first, several months afterwards 32%, and after another two 

 months 12 %o. 



In giving a prognosis the character of the disease should 

 be considered, that is the more the septicemic and the pectoral 

 manifestations predominate, the less favorable is the prognosis. 

 Hemorrhages from the body cavities are almost certain fore- 

 runners of approaching death ; likewise the severe pneumonias 

 terminate in most instances unfavorably. On the other hand 

 in cases where only the intestinal affection appears to be pres- 

 ent, the recovery of the animal is more or less certain, accord- 

 ing to its intensity. 



Treatment. At the beginning of the disease, when no com- 

 plications, especially of the thoracic organs, have become asso- 

 ciated with the affection, therefore in the first 4 or 5 days of 

 the febrile condition, treatment with the specific immune serum 

 frequently gives good results. Quite often a rapid recovery 

 takes place after a single injection of serum, while in other 



