THE INTESTINES AND CROP 



CHOLERA AND DIARRHOEAS 



HOW TO DIAGNOSE THE DISEASES ACCOMPANIED 

 BY LOOSENESS OF THE BOWELS— MEANS OF PRE- '. 

 VENTI ON— SYMPTOMS. REMEDIES AND TREATMENT 



P T. WOODS. M. D. 



DIARRHOEA is the result of disturbances of the normal action of 

 the digestive organs, and is a frequent symptom in many diseases 

 of poultry. Many simple ailments of poultry are accompanied 

 by a "looseness of the bowels," or diarrhoea. It is common in 

 many sections of the country to misname all severe diarrhoea, cholera, par- 

 ticularly those in which the excrement has a greenish color. To this fact 

 is due the belief that fowl cholera is a very common disease. Fowl cholera 

 does not very frequently attack domestic poultry if the fowls are kept under 

 reasonably sanitary conditions. It is, however, sufficiently prevalent to 

 warrant a wholesome fear of it and to make necessary precautionary meas- 

 ures to prevent its appearance in a flock. The poultryman should bear in 

 mind that all diseases accompanied by a troublesome diarrhoea are not nec- 

 essarily cholera. 



FOWL CHOLERA 



The cholera of domestic poultry is a virulent, usually fatal, contagious 

 disease. It is caused by infection with the specific germ of the disease. 

 It attacks all varieties of domestic fowls, and has been observed in wild 

 birds habitating an infected district. It is more common in foreign coun- 

 tries than in the United States. When it once makes its appiearance in a 

 flock, the disease is difficult, almost impossible, to control where the birds 

 have free range. Where fowls are kept in semi-confinement, the disease 

 may be readily, stamped out, if prompt measures are taken as soon as it is 

 discovered. Infection usually takes place through food or drink which has 

 been fouled by the discharges of the diseased birds. A male bird having 

 cholera in the early stages may transmit the disease to a flock of hens when 

 serving them. The germs sometimes gain entrance to the body by the in- 

 halation of dust in inlected coops, which have not been properly disinfected, 

 or by inoculation of wounds with the germs contained in discharges which 

 have fouled the feet, claws, and beaks of the birds. The blood and raw 

 flesh of diseased birds will, if eaten by well fowls, transmit the disease to 

 them. When the disease is present in a neighborhood, pigeons, sparrows 

 and wild birds may spread the contagion. The disease may be introduced 

 by the purchase of an infected bird. For this reason, all new birds should 

 be quarantined for two weeks (particularly in warm weather), until it is 



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