SYMPTOMS 



199 



losis in cattle or on tuberculous viscera they readily become 

 infected. Mohler found that when hogs were fed on tubercu- 

 lous milk for three days, and killed and examined post-mortem 

 107 days later that 83.3 per cent were tuberculous. Hogs that 

 received infected milk for 30 days and were allowed to live fifty 

 days thereafter 100 per cent were affected. Infection through 

 the respiratory tract, while it is certainly possible, seems to be 

 rare. The piggeries where the refuse from butter and cheese 

 factories is fed and those which join abattoirs supply the ma- 

 jority of swine found on post-mortem to be tuberculous. 



Ostertag has called special attention to this disease as 

 existing among swiue in certain parts of northern Denmark 

 and Germany, where there was much tuberculosis in cattle^ 

 and where the swine were fed the slime from creamery separa- 

 tors. Experiments show the possibility of infection by means 

 of the sputum of tuberculous people. 



In the cases which have come to notice there is very 

 strong evidence that the swine were infected by being fed the 

 milk from tuberculous cows. In one of these cases, the tuber- 

 culin test showed that a large number of the cows from which 

 the milk was obtained were affected. 



§ 145. Symptoms. In most cases tuberculosis of the 

 pig is first recognized at the abattoir. Sometimes, however, it 

 causes local and general troubles, which vary according to the 

 organ or system attacked. The following symptoms have 

 been noted. 



Its localization in the abdominal organs causes the arrest 

 of fattening and the progressive wasting of the subject. The 

 mucous membranes become pale, the hide becomes dirty and 

 there is usually either constipation or diarrhea. The animal 

 is in low spirits, the corkscrew of its tail is .straightened, the 

 abdomen is pendulous and the eyes are sunken. Palpation of 

 the abdomen is painful and may reveal more or less volumi- 

 nous masses, due to the changes in the mesenteric glands. It 

 is common to find glandular tumors in the submaxillary 

 region or at the thoracic inlet. In this form, the malady may- 



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