The General Infections of the Ge?iitalia of Swine 749 



ready considered at length for the analogous infections of 

 cattle. The individual value of swine and the anatomical 

 conditions largely inhibit individual handling and call for 

 preventive measures en masse. Swine are largely handled 

 as scavengers and consumers of foods repulsive to other 

 domestic animals. Near cities they are fed largely upon 

 garbage. There is a general tendency to handle swine as 

 lovers of filth and as immune to dirt. 



Throughout history swine have been closely associated 

 with cattle, have consumed their waste milk, salvaged un- 

 digested grains from their feces, consumed the viscera of 

 slaughtered cattle, and devoured the carcasses of diseased 

 cattle. In this long and intimate association there is a 

 natural tendency for community of bacteria. It is not 

 strange therefore to find that B. abortus and other bacteria 

 common in bovine genitalia are similarly prevalent in swine 

 and have an analogous significance. 



In one interesting clinical study it appeared that this in- 

 timacy of association exerted an important influence upon 

 the fertility of swine. In a large herd of purebred dairy 

 cattle, genital infections were intense. There were heavy 

 losses from abortion, but heavier losses from sterility due 

 to cervicitis and salpingitis in the cows, and to epididymitis 

 and spermato-cystitis in the herd bulls. B. abortus was pres- 

 ent, but the major role was apparently played by a strepto- 

 coccus of the viridans type. The establishment also had a 

 purebred herd of swine, in which the reproductive efficiency 

 gradually decreased until the herd became a distinct eco- 

 nomic burden. Little abortion was observed, but a major- 

 ity of the females were sterile. As it was desired to develop 

 the pigs as rapidly as possible, their mothers' milk was sup- 

 plemented by all the dairy milk they would take. I recom- 

 mended that no further raw dairy milk be allowed to swine 

 of any age or either sex. All milk was to be boiled. The 

 herd was divided into three groups. In the first group 

 were listed all sows which had been used for breeding and 

 which had disappeared from the herd when the change in 

 the feeding of dairy milk was made. The second group in- 



