DISEASES OF ANIMALS 



131 



recovery takes place. The udder of the 

 sow may also be washed with the same 

 solution 



Tuberculosis — This disease is dis- 

 cussed more extensively under the head 

 of Cattle Diseases, but is of sufficient 

 importance in hogs to merit brief men- 

 tion in this connection. According to 

 the statistics obtained in meat inspection 

 in foreign countries as well as in the 

 United States, tuberculosis is a fairly 

 common disease of hogs. It has been 

 increasing in most localities during re- 

 cent years, but where its increase has 

 been found due to the vise of milk from tu- 

 berculous cows, and where, consequently, 

 this milk has been sterilized before feed- 

 ing, tuberculosis has gradually dimin- 

 ished in pigs. Wherever hogs are al- 

 lowed to occupy the yards around a 

 country slaughter house and feed on the 

 offal from slaughtered animals, it may 



the disease apparently lives on cereals 

 or grasses and gains entrance to ani- 

 mals through wounds in the skin, it is 

 obvious that the udder in sows is par- 

 ticularly liable to infection. (See under 

 Diseases of Cattle. 



Minor swine ailments — Hogs may 

 also become affected with anthrax by 

 feeding on the carcass of an animal that 

 has died of this disease. The symptoms 

 are similar to those which appear in cat- 

 tle and the outcome of the disease is 

 nearly always fatal. In preventing the 

 spread of this disease among hogs, it is 

 merely necessary to prevent the animals 

 from gaining access to carcasses of other 

 animals which have died from anthrax. 



It should also be remembered that 

 hogs may develop rabies or hydrophobia 

 as a result of being bitten by rabid dogs. 

 The symptoms of rabies in hogs are 

 very similar to those in other animals. 



•■•.' I 



Fig. S5 "GOVERNMENTS/' PIGS REJECTED IN INSPECTION. ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION 



readily occur that all of such hogs be- 

 come infected with tuberculosis. In 

 fact, this material and the milk of tuber- 

 culous cows constitute the two most com- 

 mon sources of tuberculosis in pigs. If 

 the disease becomes generalized in the 

 breeding sow, the udder may become 

 affected, and when this occurs it has 

 been observed that the young pigs are 

 very likely to contract the disease. 



Foot and mouth disease — Fortunately 

 this disease does not exist at present in 

 the United States. The quite serious 

 outbreak which occurred a few years ago 

 in New England, however, was enough 

 to call attention to the possibility of 

 the general infection of hogs on farms 

 where cattle are attacked with foot and 

 mouth disease. See under Diseases of 

 Cattle.) 



Actinomycosis — This disease is most 

 common in cattle, but may also occur in 

 hogs, and since the fungus which causes 



The animal is restless, frequently gets 

 up and down, squeals and runs about 

 the pen. The hog ordinarily dies within 

 a few days after the first symptoms of 

 rabies appear. There is no practical 

 treatment for this disease, which, fortu- 

 nately, is quite rare in hogs, and all 

 afflicted animals may as well be de- 

 stroyed at once. 



Likewise with tetanus, or lockjaw. 

 This disease develops in hogs, as in other 

 animals, as the result of wound infec- 

 tion, usually from filth in which the 

 bogs lie. The commonest source of in- 

 fection with the tetanus bacillus is in 

 wounds caused by castration. On this 

 account it is well to cover the wounds 

 with a liquid or powder antiseptic im- 

 mediately after castration, and to keep 

 the hogs for a few days in pens provided 

 with an abundance of clean litter. 

 Where tetanus is unknown, these pre- 

 cautions are perhaps unnecessary, but on 



