542 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



farm, and this from the habits of pigs is by no means as 

 simple as it sounds. The poison is contained in the excreta 

 of the diseased, it requires very little consideration to realize 

 what this means where pigs have been permitted to roam 

 about, or even when they have been confined to a sty. 

 The poison may infect paddles or ponds, or carried about 

 on the hands and boots of men employed on the farm, or in 

 carts or nets used for conveying pigs, or in food, in fact, 

 with every object, animate or inanimate, with which the 

 animals may come in contact. How many farms are there 

 systematically and thoroughly disinfected after swino fever, 

 and how many are there capable of being thoroughly 

 disinfected ? 



The entire prohibition of all movements of swine in 

 the affected area prevents a man from restocking so long 

 as the Order is in force ; and this will bring about the 

 destruction of the organisms. 



The methods of disinfection have been dealt with else- 

 where (p. 408), but we may here note that the best disinfec- 

 tants for the destruction of the organism of swine fever are 

 a 1-1,000 solution of perchloride of mercury, or 10 per cent, 

 solution of chloride of lime. 



The microbe of the disease is known to live for a long 

 time outside the body. Experiments in America showed 

 it could be kept alive in clear river water for from two 

 to four months, while in stagnant pools it was still more 

 dangerous. It has been determined experimentally that 

 the organism can live from two to four months in the 

 soil.* 



Apart from diseased pigs human beings and dogs are 

 probably the next most active agents in the spread of the 

 disease, and the disinfection of men as previously described 

 for Cattle Plague and Foot and Mouth Disease should be 

 rigidly enforced in swine fever, while dogs should either be 

 tied up or shot. Those persons employed in attendance on 

 the sick, butchers, and others brought in contact with the 



* Wr. A. Cope, Annual Veterinary Beport, Board of Agriculture 

 1902. 



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