HOW DOUBLE TREATMENT IS GIVEN 397 



think that my opinion on this subject agrees with that of the major- 

 ity of the men who are working in this hne. Personally, I do not 

 think that there is any danger whatever of this kind. It may be 

 barely possible that an occasional feed lot becomes infected from 

 this source, but, even granting this possibility, I am convinced 

 that the benefits resulting from this method of treatment are so 

 large as to more than overbalance any danger there may be 

 from such a source. If we can develop large numbers of these 

 immune herds which have a permanent protection against hog- 

 cholera as a result of the giving of the double treatment we will 

 soon make hog-cholera hard to find. The proper plan to follow 

 after once having a herd treated by the double method is to never 

 bring any hogs on the premises again unless they have received 

 the treatment, and also inject the young pigs at the time when they 

 are about ready to wean. 



By following this method of handling the disease it is more or 

 less unimportant whether the feed lots are infected or not. The 

 disease cannot get a start in an immune herd, and the cost of treat- 

 ment of an entire herd of sucking pigs is less than the value of one 

 full-grown animal which might be lost in the late summer or early 

 fall from an outbreak of the disease. 



This question of infection of feed lots from the discharges of 

 animals which have received the double method of treatment is an 

 interesting one, however, and one which needs more careful study. 

 The officers of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry, as 

 well as the men employed in carrying on this work at the various 

 state experiment stations, are working on field tests along this line 

 at the present moment, and it should be definitely determined with- 

 in a short time whether or not any danger does really exist from this 

 source. 



Personally, I regard this as a secondary matter. Even though 

 it were proved that the giving of the double treatment did result 

 in contaminating the feed lots with the feces containing hog-cholera 

 virus, I would still favor just as strongly as I do to-day the use of 

 this method of handling the disease. It is the proper method for 

 controlling hog-cholera, and is bound in the course of the next few 

 years to become just as popular among hog producers as is vac- 

 cination against small-pox among the human family. 



