iy8 TUBERCULOSIS 



same species rather than from one species to the other. A 

 number of cases of tuberculosis in man seems to have been 

 caused by the bovine type of the tubercle bacterium. Accord- 

 ing to Smith there are forty to fifty such cases on record. 



§ 139. Extent of tuberculosis especially among 

 cattle and swine. The committee on cattle diseases and 

 animal food of the American Public Health Association for 

 1901 reported the appended statistics concerning the extent and 

 increase of tuberculosis in cattle and swine in various countries. 



"The slaughter house statistics of Prussia show 14.6 per 

 cent of the cattle and 2.14 per cent of the swine to be tubercu- 

 lous. In Saxony the percentage is 29.13 with cattle and 3.10 

 with swine. In the city of Leipzig the figures are 36.4 for 

 cattle and 2.17 for swine (Siedamgrotzky). Of 20,850 animals 

 in Belgium tested with tuberculin in 1896, 48.88 per cent 

 reacted. Of 25,439 tested in Denmark from 1893 to 1895, 

 49.3 per cent reacted ; and of 67,263 tested from 1896 to 1898, 

 32.8 per cent reacted (Bang). An examination of 20,930 

 cattle in Great Britain, either slaughtered and examined post- 

 mortem or tested with tuberculin, showed 5,441 or 26 per cent 

 afFected with tuberculosis. M'Fadyean estimates that 30 per 

 cent of the cows in Great Britain are tuberculous. Figures 

 available in the United States do not cover a suflScient area of 

 our territory to allow us to make a reliable estimate of the 

 extent of tuberculosis in milch cows. 



"Our beef cattle as they come to the large packing houses 

 are as yet comparatively free from tuberculosis. Of 4,841,166 

 cattle slaughtered in the year 1900, under Federal meat inspec- 

 tion, but 5,279 or o. 11 per cent were sufficiently affected to 

 cause the condemnation of any part of the carcass. Of 23,336,- 

 884 hogs similarly inspected, 5,440 were sufficiently afiected to 

 cause a condemnation of some part of the carcass. This is 

 equal to 0.023 per cent, or shghtly more than one-fifth the 

 proportion found in beef cattle. 



"The slaughter house statistics of all countries show that 

 the percentage of affected hogs increases as the disease becomes 



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