ONE question that has confronted 

 practically every owner of cattle 

 in Illinois at one time or another 

 is "What shall I do about Bang's 

 disease?" Anyone trying to read 

 all of the reports and articles on this 

 subject during the past few years has 

 probably come to the conclusion that no 

 one seems to know the answers. 



In fairness to all who have presented 

 the various aspects of the problem one 

 has to admit that there has been and 

 still are many unanswered questions. 

 Unfortunately, many questions that per- 

 tain to diseases and their control seldom 

 can be answered with a straight yes or 

 no. There are so many complicating 

 and influencing factors that most of 

 these questions have to be given a qual- 

 ified answer. 



Diflferences of opinion are always 

 healthy and stimulating. The same can 

 be said about discussions that have been 

 going on relative to Bang's disease con- 

 trol. In fact it is fortunate that those 

 who have ideas and evidence to support 

 their contentions express themselves 

 and have an opportunity to be heard. 



For that reason farmers in Illinois 

 have been fortunate. To many of them 

 it has seemed that nothing but confu- 

 sion existed so far as the authorities in 

 Illinois were concerned. On the one 

 hand, the Extension Service of the Uni- 

 versity of Illinois, because of its great 

 responsibility to the livestock producers 

 in the state, has had to limit its recom- 

 mendations to scientific evidence proven 

 beyond a shadow of a doubt. 



On the other hand, the Division of 

 Livestock Industry, whose job it is to 

 control the disease, has had to see that 

 the control work progressed. It has 

 had to accept what seemed to be the 

 best program and the one the livestock 

 owners wanted. The volume of the 

 work that had' been carried on in Illi- 

 nois shows how active the Division has 

 been in the control of brucellosis. 



Even today no one has all the an- 

 swers. However, there are a good many 

 points which should be brought out. 



One question often raised is "How 



THE BANG'S PUZZLE 



What Is The Answer To Brucellosis? 

 Vaccination, Blood Test, Careful Sanitation 

 And Good Herd Management Are All Vital Parts 

 Of A Successful Control Program 



By DR. C. D. VAN HOUWELING 



Director, Veterinary Medical Activities 



Dr. Von Houwaling has discussed tlie Bang's 



disease problem with hundreds of farmers. 



Here he talics it ever with Ray Pearce 



(right) Jersey County. 



long are calves that are vaccinated be- 

 tween four and eight months of age 

 protected against the disease?" The 

 results of field tests indicate that 95 

 per cent of the calves properly vacci- 

 nated will be protected against abortion 

 from three to five years. Another ten 

 per cent may develop a positive blood 

 test during the same period of time. 

 So, one can say that roughly 85 to 95 

 per cent of the calves vaccinated seem 

 to be protected against the disease for 

 the greater part of their lives. 



Although experiments have been de- 

 signed and conducted to demonstrate 

 that the vaccine can spread the active 

 form of the disease they have not been 

 successful. One can say with a reason- 



VcKclnatien, with ali its shortcomings, is still the best answer for Bang's disease control. 

 At left a federal veterinarian is shown talcing a blood sample. At right he Injects Bcmg's 



vaccine. 



able amount of confidence that the vac- 

 cine will not cause the active form of 

 disease in unvaccinated animals. 



Accusations have been made that vac- 

 cination causes sterility in the vacci- 

 nated animals. There does not seem to 

 be any basis for this statement. On the 

 other hand there is certainly no basis 

 for the belief that vaccination by itself 

 will serve to correct sterility. It must 

 be remembered that vaccination does 

 not possess curative powers. Its sole 

 purpose is to develop a resistance 

 against the disease. 



Vaccination of adult animals has been 

 advocated and discredited. There is no 

 evidence to show that there is any value 

 received from vaccinating infected adult 

 animals. There does seem to be evi- 

 dence that there is value in vaccinating 

 the uninfected cows in a herd which is 

 experiencing a "storm" of abortions. In 

 any case, the vaccination of adults 

 should be regarded conservatively due 

 to the complications that arise from 

 subsequent blood testing. 



Another confusing point has been 

 how long vaccinated calves will con- 

 tinue to react to the blood test. It can 

 safely be said that about 90 per cent of 

 the calves vaccinated between four and 

 eight months of age will be negative to 

 the blood test in about nine to 12 

 months. It can be just as definitely stated 

 that a few per cent will continue to react 

 to the blood test up to two or three years 

 of age or older. Some vaccinated animals 

 may lose this blood reaction and later 

 have it reappear. 



That brings up another point I men- 

 tioned earlier, as to the percentage of 

 animals that will be protected against 

 the disease by vaccination. One should 

 always remember that vaccine is not 

 100 per cent effective and that it is pos- 

 sible for vaccinated animals to become 

 infected and to lose calves. Therefore, 

 no one should place his entire faith in 

 controling the disease on vaccinating 

 animals. Vaccination alone probably 

 never will eliminate the disease. The 

 blood test coupled with careful sanita- 

 tion and good herd management are 

 still vital parts of a successful control 

 program. Combined with proper vac- 

 cination they provide the means for the 

 elimination of Bang's disease losses. 



