566 



In addition to its im;portance in differentiating tuberculosis 

 it is in itself a malady worthy of careful attention. The fact 

 that it has already appeared in two flocks in the District of 

 Columbia and also in the State of North Carolina and Virginia, 

 shows that the infesting cestode isi quite widely distributed in 

 this country. It is highly probable that the total loss it 

 occasions both from deaths and from the shrinkage of poultry 

 products, due to the chronic course of the disease it produces, 

 is very large. * * * 



Diagnosis. — Tuberculosis is, as before stated, the only known 

 disease for which this affection is liable to be mistaken, and it 

 is of much importance that the two diseases should not be 

 confounded. The diagnosis has not, in my experience, been diffi- 

 cult, as in every case the attached tapeworms were readily 

 detected upon a close examination of the intestinal contents, or 

 of the mucous membrane of the infected portion of the intes- 

 tine. However, the worms are quite small and could easily be 

 overlooked in a hurried or cursory examination. In case of 

 doubt, if the affected intestine is opened and the mucous sur- 

 face washed carefully in a gentle stream of water, the small 

 worms will be observed hanging to the mucous membrane. 

 This discovery, in the absence of lesions in the liver or other 

 organs, would warrant the diagnosis of the tapeworm disease. 

 Although much is written concerning tuberculosis in fowls, 

 especially in Europe, the investigations of poultry diseases by 

 this Bureau have thus far shown that it is not common among 

 fowls in this country. 



TAPEWORM-INFECTED FOWLS AS FOOD. 



None of the tapeworms of birds are transmissible to 

 man in any stage of their development, and the pre- 

 sence of tapeworms in the intestine of fowls does not 

 in itself warrant the condemnation of their bodies as 

 an article of food. 



PREVENTION. 



From the nature of the intennediate hosts (fresh 

 water crustaceans) of the tapeworms of aquatic birds 

 it is evident that nothing can be done to prevent the 

 introduction of larval tapeworms into ducks and 

 geese, if these animals are nllowed to visit ponds. 



