ANTHRAX. 199 



anthrax of the lungs. Bales of foreign wool contain not only wool 

 from living sheep, but wool which has been clipped from skins of 

 dead sheep. If any of the sheep died from anthrax the wool is 

 sure to be contaminated with blood containing the bacilli, and then 

 wool-sorters engaged in picking the wool readily inoculate them- 

 selves through a scratch or pimple, or by inhaling the spores. In 

 many cases Wool-sorters' disease is fatal. 



A farm may become extensively infected by the living animal. 

 Blood containing the bacilli may be discharged from the mouth and 

 nostrils, or be passed with the contents of the intestinal canal 

 and bladder. The droppings contaminate the pasture or byre, and 

 spore formation, especially in warm weather, quickly takes place. 

 From this cause the disease may not only be conveyed to healthy 

 cattle grazing with infected animals, but fresh cases may occur, year 

 after year, on the same farm, and if hay is cut and sold off the farm, 

 other cattle at a distance are similarly infected. If the flooring of 

 cattle sheds is once soiled by infected animals it is easy to account 

 for those otherwise mysterious outbreaks which occiir when the 

 cattle are taken in for the winter. 



Another source of danger arises when blood from a diseased 

 animal is washed into brooks or streams, for thus the disease may 

 be carried to farms in which it was previously unknown. 



Preventive Measures. 



Early recognition and prompt action are essential to prevent the 

 spread of any communicable disease. 



Unfortunately in the case of anthrax only too often the very 

 first indication of the existence of the disease is the sudden death 

 in the pasture or byre of an apparently healthy beast, or possibly 

 of one or more sheep. Nevertheless, the importance of being able 

 to recognise any early indications is very great, because an im- 

 mediate and careful examination should at once be made of the 

 stock on the farm, and suspicious cases isolated from the rest. The 

 stock-man may notice that one or two animals tend to keep away 

 from the others. They look dull and cease feeding, and possibly 

 shivering may be observed. In horses swelling of the throat may 

 occur, and in some places there is discharge of blood from the 

 orifices. Death follows the appearance of these symptoms in a 

 few hours, and often with startling suddenness. Cattle die rapidly, 

 but sheep, though rapidly contracting the disease, do not as a rule 

 die so suddenly. 



