Infectious Entero- hepatitis in Turkeys. 435 



It would seem that the caeca of birds, like the vermiform appen- 

 dix of man is very subject to invasion microbes, bacterian and 

 protozoan, and should always be carefully examined in case of 

 intestinal or hepatic disorder. 



Treatment would be 'in the line of intestinal antisepsis with 

 carbolic acid, salol, sulphurous acid, or the sulphites, with a laxa- 

 tive of castor oil, to carry these agents unchanged to the caeca, 

 but no success has attended attempts in this direction, and the 

 danger that comes from preservation of the infected animal, and 

 consequent multiplication of the microbe would as a rule far more 

 than counterbalance any probable recoveries. 



Prevention. Moore has shown that the amoebae, passed with 

 the faeces, contaminate the food and water and thus actively 

 propagate the disease, so that preventive measures must be mainly 

 directed toward the purification of these infecting media. To be 

 thorough, new ground must be secured on which no diseased 

 turkeys have been, and through which no water from con- 

 taminated or suspected land can flow ; if necessary this must be 

 closely fenced to prevent all ingress or egress, and on this ground 

 we can place, turkeys from sound flock's or hatched from eggs 

 obtained in noninfected localities. The eggs of infected birds 

 can convey the disease (Curtice). The amoeba is not known as 

 a parasite of other birds than turkeys and hens, but if it should 

 eventually be found to be so or to occupy any other animal body 

 as an intermediate host, the local extermination of such host 

 will become a necessary precaution. 



When a new flock has been started in this way, the birds of 

 the old flock may be fattened, killed and marketed, and as sug- 

 gested by Cooper Curtice the grounds they have occupied may be 

 secluded by fencing for one or two years, in the hope that the 

 amcEba will perish by this break in the chain of its life history. 

 If this should prove successful with the land, the infection might 

 be easily exterminated in the whole infected district or state. 



The poultry buildings will require thorough disinfection. All 

 manure and droppings must be carefully removed and the build- 

 ing whitewashed, using freshly burned quicklime and ^ lb. of 

 chloride of lime to the gallon of the mixture. The litter should 

 be burned, and all nests, roosts, drinking vessels and troughs 

 soaked with a mixture of sulphuric acid J^ gallon, carbolic acid 



