CHRONIC CHOLERA 185 



sensitiveness is not so pronounced as that seen in acute cholera, 

 and it is also more Umited to the belly. In acute cholera the skin 

 is sensitive all over the body and the animal grunts whenever it is 

 touched. In the chronic types of the disease the tenderness is more 

 limited to the surface of the belly. 



If the hand is rubbed over the inner surface of the flanks and 

 along the folds of the groin we will find that the lymph-glands 

 located in this region are enlarged, swollen, and often quite tender. 



Course of Chronic Cholera. — The length of time which the ani- 

 mal will remain sick with chronic cholera is usually several weeks. 

 The course is much more long drawn out than in the acute cholera, 

 and the final outcome of a case of chronic cholera is rather doubtful. 

 There are quite a large number of hogs that have chronic cholera 

 and recover. There are some of these chronic cases that are so 

 mild and the symptoms so sUght that the animal goes through the 

 entire course of the disease, and the owner never suspects that there 

 is anything wrong with his herd. He may notice that the animals 

 do not clean up their feed as well as usual for several weeks, and 

 he may note that in some way or other they do not take on flesh 

 hke they should. He is more Ukely to think that the animals 

 have worms than to suspect that they are suffering from chronic 

 cholera. These are the cases that are especially dangerous, as 

 likely to be added to a healthy herd and infect them with cholera 

 virus, which in its new surroundings may prove to be very highly 

 virulent and produce most severe symptoms of the acute form of 

 the disease. 



This is a point always to be remembered, that an animal suffer- 

 ing from chronic cholera, and showing practically no symptoms at 

 all of anything much out of the way, may, when added to a herd 

 of healthy hogs, infect them with the acute form of the disease. 

 Never add a new hog to your herd unless absolutely certain that 

 there is nothing the matter with the new animal, and this should be 

 made sure of by keeping the new hog in a separate pen for a period 

 of three or four weeks before allowing it to enter the regular 

 feed lot with the balance of the herd. 



In the more severe cases of chronic cholera the animal continues 

 to lose flesh and strength, and the attacks of diarrhea become more 

 and more severe and recur with greater frequency, until, finally. 



