234 DISEASES OF SWINE 



came in contact with healthy animals, and thus sowed the seed 

 for further development and spread of the disease. 



Had this man or his neighbors taken prompt action at the 

 start of the outbreak, and burned all dead carcasses as rap- 

 idly as they were found, there would have been no attraction for 

 buzzards, no spreading of the outbreak, and the disease could most 

 likely have been held on this one farm. It should be made the 

 lawful duty of every man to promptly burn all dead animals on 

 his premises, and where, for any reason, it is impossible for him to 

 do so, it should be the duty of the township constable, the deputy 

 state veterinarian, or other proper official to have this work done 

 at once. 



In the spreading of this outbreak there was another important 

 factor which must not be overlooked. This was the running 

 stream which crossed through the pasture. The waters of this 

 stream were made impure both by drainage from the infected 

 pastures along its banks and also by the actual presence in its bed 

 of large numbers of rotting dead bodies. The diseased materials 

 which in this manner found their way into the waters of the 

 stream were carried along into other feed lots, and unquestionably 

 proved important aids in rapidly spreading the disease. This was 

 fully borne out by investigations made among farmers along the 

 course of this stream. In almost every case the disease had visited 

 their premises and wiped out herd after herd, the death-dealing 

 power of this outbreak apparently being of the most active and 

 fatal character. 



Another point worthy of deep thought concerning this outbreak 

 is the lasting results on the hog-raising industry in the disease- 

 swept section. Not only was there an enormous loss of animals 

 from the disease during the course of the outbreak, but there was 

 also the loss of large numbers of valuable brood animals, and, as a 

 result, the following year finds this section of the country practi- 

 cally bare of hogs. Not only this, but the hog raisers of this district 

 are inclined to withdraw entirely from the hog business, as they 

 have suffered such severe losses they are not inclined to risk another 

 outbreak similar to the one through which they have just passed. 

 It is just this sort of feeling left after a cholera outbreak which 

 explains the decline in the hog-raising industry in the past ten 



