392 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



ited Avlierever there is a possibility and disposition to eradicate the 

 contagion. 



RINDERPEST. 



Rinderpest, also known as cattle plague, is an acute, infectious dis- 

 ease of cattle, in which the digestive organs are mainly involved. 

 Though unknown in this country, the importance of having near at 

 hand a few definite facts concerning this disease, should it ever reach 

 our shores, will be at once appreciated. A knowledge of such facts 

 may aid in an early recognition of the disease. It must not be for- 

 gotten, on the other hand, that a superficial knowledge of diseases, 

 such as the layman may gain through reading, not infrequently leads 

 to confounding comparatively harmless, noninfectious maladies with 

 such as are trulj'^ dangerous (foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpCvSt, 

 etc.), and causes temporary panics among stock owners. 



Rinderpest has its home, according to some authorities, in the ter- 

 ritory around the Black Sea and the Volga River in Russia ; accord- 

 ing to others, in Central Asia. Thence it has been conveyed at va- 

 rious times by cattle to nearly every country of Europe and Asia, 

 where it has proved a veritable bovine scourge. It probably visited 

 Europe as early as the beginning of the Christian era, and the migra- 

 tions of people from the Far East have since then introduced the dis- 

 ease from time to time. Especially during the eighteenth century it 

 was more or less prevalent in Europe, owing to the frequent wars, 

 during which herds of cattle were brought from eastern Europe and 

 Asia to supply the demands of the armies. It prevailed in Europe 

 during the Franco-Prussian War. At present it exists in Russia, 

 South Africa, and the Philippines. 



The virus is conveyed from one country to another chiefly by means 

 of infected cattle, although infected hides, wool, and food may play 

 an important part in its dissemination. The railroad facilities of the 

 present, which furnish the means of such rapid communication, are 

 particularly liable to aid in the spread of the disease. 



In the past rinderpest has been supposed to be identical with vari- 

 ous human diseases, among them smallpox and typhoid fever. These 

 suppositions are unfounded, and the view of authorities to-day is 

 that it is a disease of a peculiar kind, not identical with any other 

 known infectious disease. 



The contagion of rinderpest. — The cause of rinderpest must be 

 looked for among microorganisms — most likely bacteria. However, 

 the investigations made thus far for this causal factor have been 

 fruitless, although certain recent experiments would indicate that 

 the unseen microbe is of such dimensions that it is withheld by the 

 dense bacterial filters, but passes through the more porous ones. It 

 was formerly supposed by various authorities that rinderpest virus 



