OBSERVATIONS ON CATTLE PLAGUE IN THE PHILIPPINE 



ISLANDS AND THE METHODS EMPLOYED IN 



COMBATLNG IT. 



By E. H. RuEDiGFR. 



{From the Serum Section of the Biological Laboratory, Bureau of Science) 



A great deal has been written on the subject of cattle plague ^ and 

 the literature is so voluminous that I shall not attempt to review it at 

 this time. All I shall aim to do is to give a brief outline of the more 

 important features of the disease as observed in these Islands and the 

 method emplo3'ed in combating it here. 



Cattle plague is an acute infectious disease characterized by rapid rise 

 of temperature, severe prostration, loss of appetite, hypersemia of the 

 conjunctivae, discharge from the nose, violent diarrhoea, and, in the 

 majority of cases, death. The disease is endemic and epidemic, espe- 

 cially in the warmer countries such as China, India, Egypt, other parts of 

 Africa and the Philippine Islands. Many attempts to cultivate and 

 isolate tlie causative factor liave resulted in failure. A number of 

 authors maintain that the organism is ultra-microscopic because it passes 

 through porcelain filters. So far as my own experience with filtered blood 

 is concerned, I feel safe in saying that the filtrate is absolutely harmless 

 when injected into non-immune animals. At any rate, the infectious 

 material present in the blood does not pass through either the Chamber- 

 land or the Berkefeld filters. 



MODE OF INFECTION". 



Wliile the causative factor of cattle plague is as yet unknown, it is gen- 

 erally accepted that infection is conveyed by discharges from a sick 

 animal. Pastures that have been infected by sick animals may remain 

 infected for months or even for years. At times the weather appears to 

 have an influence on the disease. In the Philippine Islands cattle plague 

 nearly disappears during the dry season only to spring up in widespread 

 epidemics soon after the beginning of the rainy season. Cattle kept on 

 high land usually suffer less tlian those kept on low land. Infected 

 stables, unless well cleaned and disinfected, will remain infectious for 

 a long time. Non-immune animals kept in the vicinity of sick animals 



^German, rinderpest; French, peste bovine. 



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