486 DISEASES OF SWINE 



of the treated sucking pigs lived. The old sow that was left 

 untreated to serve as a check died, as above noted, while all of the 

 old hogs which were treated survived. Of the 25 treated shoats, 

 only 2 were lost, the remaining 23 showing no indications of 

 disease. 



The history of this herd is a good example of what may be 

 accomphshed at the beginning of a hog-cholera outbreak. The 

 herd described in this case had already been exposed, and the 

 animals were just beginning to come down with the disease. The 

 hog that was supposed to be sick from eating pumpkins was, in 

 reality, no doubt suffering from cholera at the time. The disease 

 was in course of development in the other animals, and, had the 

 serum treatment been delayed for a few days longer, no doubt 

 the most of the herd would have been lost. 



The time to get good results from the use of the serum treat- 

 ment is right at the start of the disease. After the disease has 

 gained a good headway, and several animals are just about ready 

 to die, is no time to start out looking for serum. If the single 

 treatment is to be used it must be used early, even while the dis- 

 ease is still in the incubation period. The better method, of course, 

 is to give the double treatment several weeks or even months 

 before the disease gets into the herd. 



While the results from the use of the serum have been good in 

 these reported herds, I do not believe that they are as good as we 

 can now hope for. In the first place, the amount of serum given 

 in these cases has been very small — much smaller than is now 

 being used and recommended by the United States Bureau of 

 Animal Industry and the various state experiment stations. 

 Especially should a larger dose of serum be used if the animal 

 shows visible symptoms of being sick, or if he shows, by the pres- 

 ence of a high fever, that the disease is coming on. There is no 

 record shown in these herds that temperatures were taken, and 

 if they were, no attention was apparently given to them in adjust- 

 ing the dose of the serum. It must be remembered, however, 

 that these test-herds were among the early experiments with the 

 serum, and much advance has since been made. Reports of ex- 

 periments now being conducted will no doubt prove even much 

 more favorable. 



