CHAPTER XIV. 



CONTAGIOUS ABORTION IN CATTLE. 



By the term contagious or infectious abortion 

 we refer to those cases of abortion that occur 

 enzootically in otherwise healthy animals from 

 some infection that produces a local inflamma- 

 tory condition of the uterus and foetal mem- 

 branes of the foetus. This condition has been 

 recognized as contagious from the beginning of 

 the last century in some of the mountainous dis- 

 tricts of the old world, but the causative agents 

 had not been discovered before 1876 with any 

 degree of certainty and yet there is some con- 

 troversy concerning the cause of this condition. 



This is most commonly found in cows, but it 

 may be found in mares, ewes, sows and goats. 

 It has been possible to produce abortion by arti- 

 ficial inoculation also in rabbits and bitches. This 

 is a disease that occurs mostly in fine, well bred 

 cattle, that are kept in stables and are forced for 

 large milk yield, and, for this reason, it has be- 

 come one of the greatest menaces to the dairy 

 industry that this country has ever known. It has 

 also been found in range cattle. Its loss in the 

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