POUIvTRY DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT. 69 



Fowl cholera cannot be recognized with certainty except by a 

 bacteriological examination. Practically, however, this makes 

 but little difference to the poultryman. The methods of com- 

 batting cholera are not radically different from those used 

 against similar infectious diseases. The occurrence of a num- 

 ber of sudden deaths in a flock indicate the presence of an 

 infectious disease and call for the inauguration of sanitary 

 and remedial measures at once. At the same time a letter de- 

 scribing the symptoms should be sent to the Division of Pathol- 

 ogy, Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, D. C. In this 

 way the name of the particular disease can be determined and 

 advice as to any specific treatment will be received. 



Treatment. "The best authorities on the subject regard gen- 

 uine cholera as practically incurable. It is said that none of the 

 alleged remedies have proved effective in cases known to be 

 true cholera, and the presumption is that the persons supposing 

 they had cured cholera with them were treating some other 

 disease. While treatment of affected individuals is regarded 

 as futile, the spread of the disease may be limited and the dis- 

 ease stamped out by disinfection to destroy the germs on the 

 premises, and by proper measures to prevent their further distri- 

 bution." (Robinson). 



Dr. P. T. Woods, who several years ago while manager of 

 a poultry ranch in New Jersey, had considerable .experience with 

 cholera gives the following method of dealing with the disease. 

 (Reliable Poultry Remedies). 



"As soon as the disease is discovered^ establish a pest house 

 remote from the other poultry buildings, a place that can be 

 easily and thoroughly disinfected. Isolate all suspected cases 

 in the pest house as soon as you can find them. Give these 

 birds a few drops of creolin in their drinking water (just 

 enough to turn it faintly milky), or give them drinking water 

 in which has been dissolved one one-tenth of a grain tablet of 

 corrosive sublimate to the quart of water. All birds which show 

 marked symptoms of the disease had better be killed and cre- 

 mated at once. This is safest and best. Kill them by strang- 

 ling or by a sharp blow with a blunt club, breaking the neck. 

 Do not draw bloody as the blood is infectious, and you do not 

 want to spill it. If they bleed, scrape up all the blood and 

 burn with the body, and disinfect the place where it fell. Rake 



