TRICHINOSIS 671 



down. This cough may last for several minutes and cause con- 

 siderable exhaustion and difficulty of breathing. 



Symptoms of lung worms in the pig are, however, never as 

 severe as those produced by similar parasites in calves and lambs, 

 where the condition is often a most severe one. It is but seldom 

 that the pigs infested by this parasite show loss of appetite, loss 

 of weight, or unthriftiness. An occasional severe case will be met 

 with where the general effects of the parasite are well pronounced, 

 but, as a rule, if the animals are properly housed and fed they soon 

 outgrow the disease, and, except for an occasional fit of coughing, 

 are not noticeably inconvenienced. 



Treatment. — Preventive treatment of these parasites is much 

 more important than curative. The lung worm is so widely dis- 

 tributed that it is necessary to use every possible precautionary 

 measure in order to prevent infection. Feed yards should be 

 drained to keep them free from mud-holes. Old shallow ponds should 

 be filled in and the mud-hole hog wallow eliminated. It is through 

 wallowing in these old mud-holes and ponds that the parasite is 

 widely spread. The larvae present in these wallows are taken up in 

 the mud on the animal's hide, and when it afterward dries and be- 

 comes scattered around the sheds and sleeping quarters in the form 

 of dust the parasites are taken in with the dust-laden air and infect 

 the lungs. 



Medicinal treatment of this condition is rarely necessary in the 

 hog. In the calf and lamb the disease is much more extensive and 

 severe, and medical aid is often called for. By way of treatment in 

 swine, inhalation of tar or turpentine fumes is often beneficial, but 

 the difficulty of applying this form of treatment on a large scale 

 makes it rather unpractical. As further aid to ridding the hog of 

 the parasites, plenty of good nutritious food, clean feed lots, and 

 proper sleeping quarters will be found to be all that are necessary 

 in the majority of cases. If they are otherwise in good condition 

 and receive plenty of proper food, pigs will outgrow the disease. 



TRICHINOSIS (TRICHINA SPIRALIS) 



Trichinosis is the name applied to that condition of the hog, 

 and also of man, in which there is an infestation of the muscular 

 tissues of the body with a worm-like parasite known as the Trichina 



