TREATMENT OF CHOLERA 241 



improper burial of dead cholera hogs. These pigs thrived first 

 class until they came in contact with the remains of these 

 dead animal bodies. The disease-producing virus had been able to 

 remain active even throughout the winter, when protected by a 

 layer of earth and furnished with food in the form of the decom- 

 posing dead animal bodies. 



Here, again, also we have an example of the extreme ease with 

 which pigs are made sick by hog-cholera germs. Perhaps the 

 older animals might have been resistant enough that the virus in 

 its weakened state would not have been able to attack them, and, 

 as a matter of actual fact, the sows did not get sick until nearly 

 two weeks after the pigs began to die. They were most likely 

 infected through the virus which was scattered over the lots 

 through the discharges of the sick young pigs. 



Another source of danger from the practice of burial of animals 

 is illustrated by the following epidemic, which was scattered through 

 a herd in western Indiana a few years ago : 



Two farmers lived on opposite sides of the public highway, and 

 each had a herd of hogs, neither of which were in pastures adjoining 

 the road. Cholera broke out on one farm, and soon there were a 

 number of animals dying each day. At first an attempt was made 

 at deep burial, but, as the outbreak became more widely scattered 

 through the herd and the number of dead each morning increased, 

 the method of burial became more slack, and the usual shallow 

 trench was dug and the animals covered with 1 or 2 feet of loose 

 earth. 



The farmer across the road had a large shepherd dog which was 

 in the habit of ranging over the fields of both farms with equal 

 freedom. He was not long in discovering the newly made graves, 

 and, prompted by curiosity and the odor of fresh meat, he proceeded 

 to explore. The result was that he returned home with a large 

 hog bone, torn loose from one of the decomposing cholera car- 

 casses. In returning home he dragged this up through the hog 

 lots, and, after gnawing upon it awhile, buried it in a corner of the 

 hog lot. 



Several of the small pigs about the hog lot soon uncovered the 

 bone and were not long in beginning to tear it apart. In this way 

 they were brought into direct contact with the disease-producing 



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