DISEASES OF ANIMALS 



133 



quently mistaken for those of typhoid. 

 If only a small number of trichina are 

 contained in the infested pork eaten by 

 man, the symptoms may be very slight, 

 and recovery takes place. In some cases, 

 where the infestation was very exten- 

 sive, it has been found that the muscles 

 of the patient contained as many as 

 100,000,000 trichinae per ounce of flesh. 

 Man becomes affected with this disease 

 by eating raw or partly cooked pork. 

 The trichinae are killed by thorough 

 cooking or by the usual process of salt 

 pickling and curing pork products. 

 Naturally trichinosis is most frequent 

 in Germany where raw pork is eaten 

 most extensively. 



Preventive measures — Hogs become 

 infested, to a large extent, through eat- 

 ing the offal and rats about slaughter 

 houses. In a few instances, as high as 

 8 or 10 per cent of the hogs kept in such 

 localities have been found infested with 

 trichinae. It is apparent, therefore, that 

 hogs may be prevented from becoming 

 trichinous by feeding them on grain 

 and other wholesome food and prevent- 

 ing them from eating the offal of 

 slaughtered animals and rats. 



Fig. 88 — ROUND WORMS IN HOG INTESTINE 



The common round worm of hogs — 

 Young pigs sometimes become unthrifty 

 and lose flesh as a result of infestation 

 with intestinal worms known to scien- 

 tists as Ascaris suilla. This is a large 

 white or yellowish worm, pointed at both 

 ends and ranging from 6 to 10 inches in 

 length. They are carried from one ani- 

 mal to another in the feces. Obviously 

 an infested hog may contaminate the 

 ground on which the hogs are maintained 

 by the eggs of the worm which pass out 

 in the feces. Preventive treatment con- 

 sists in changing the quarters of the 

 pigs to uninvested ground, or the ap- 

 plication of lime or other disinfectants 

 to the soil and pens. The worms may 

 be expelled from infested hogs by giv- 

 ing turpentine in doses of 1 teaspoon- 



ful in milk. The doses should be re- 

 peated daily for a period of three days. 

 Thorn headed worm—This parasite is 

 found in the anterior part of the small 

 intestines with its head embedded in the 

 intestinal wall. It is not as common as 

 the round worm and seldom occurs in 

 greater numbers than five or six in a 

 single animal. The presence of the 

 thorn headed worm, however, causes 



Fig. 89 — THORN-HEADED WORM ATTACHED 

 TO WALL OF HOG INTESTINE 



much more serious symptoms than the 

 common round worm and death results 

 in a considerable percentage of cases. 

 Infection takes place through the feces 

 as with the round worm and the pre- 

 ventive treatment should be the same; 

 namely, plowing up the hog yards and 

 removing the hogs to other quarters, to- 

 gether with the use of turpentine in tea- 

 spoonful doses. 



K : dney worm— This parasite is found 

 chiefly in the kidney, in the fat around 

 this organ, or in the liver. Occasionally 

 the presence of the parasite causes an 

 inflammation of the kidney and the for- 

 mation of abscesses. The parasite in 

 question is known to scientists as 



Fig. 90 — KIDNEY WORMS IN THE HOG 



Stephanurus dentatus. The symptoms 

 of infestation with this worm are not 

 characteristic and the method by which 

 the hogs become infested is not known. 

 It is impossible, therefore, to apply an 

 intelligent system of prevention, except 

 such as recommended for round worms. 



