INFECTIOUS D23EA3ES OF CATTLE. 



401 



Figures available in the United States do not cover a sufficient area 

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

 of tuberculosis with milch cows. There is little doubt, however, but 

 that the disease has been increasing both with dairy cattle and hogs. 

 From a review by Russell and Hastings, of the Wisconsin Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, of tests of cattle for tuberculosis which have 

 been made in the United States, the following summary is presented: 



Statistics of tests for tuberculosis in the United States. 



State. 



Number 

 tested. 



Number 

 tubercu- 

 lar. 



Per cent 

 tubercu- 

 lar. 



Vermont 



Massachusetts 



Massachusetts, entire herds . 



Connecticut 



New York, 1894 



New York, 1897-98 



Pennsylvania. 



New Jersey 



Illinois, 1897-98 



Illinois, 1899 



Michigan 



Minnesota _. 



Iowa 



60,000 

 24,685 



4,093 



6,300 

 947 



1,200 

 34,000 



2,500 

 929 



3,655 



2,390 

 12,443 

 1,080 



66 



163 



4,800 



560 



Wisconsin: 



Experiment Station tests- 

 Suspected herds 



Nonsuspected herds _ 



State veterinarian's tests- 

 Suspected herds 



Tests of local veterinarians under State veterinarian, cat- 

 tle intended for shipment to States requiring tuberculin 

 certificate 



873 



333 



3,421 



122 



115 



84 



191 



76 



3.9 

 60.0 

 26.4 

 14.2 



6.9 

 18.'4 

 14.1 

 21.4 

 12.0 

 15.32 

 13.0 

 11.1 

 13.8 



35.6 

 9.0 



32.5 



2.2 



The State veterinarian of Pennsylvania, Dr. Pearson, thinks that 

 not over 2 per cent of the cattle of that State are tuberculous, and 

 probably if a general test of all the cattle of the other States men- 

 tioned were made we should find a very much smaller proportion 

 tuberculous than is indicated by this tabular statement. 



Reports of ttiberculin tests made on 400,000 cattle in the United 

 States during the years 1893 to 1908 by federal, state, and other 

 officers with tuberculin prepared by the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 show 37,008 reactions, or 9.25 per cent. These were mostly dairy 

 cattle, and in some cases herds were suspected of being diseased. 



The beef cattle of the United States show a much smaller propor- 

 tion of the disease than dairy cattle, though the percentage of cattle 

 found tuberculous in the government meat-inspection service has 

 increased considerably in recent years. This increase is due partly, 

 613S0— 08 20 



