614 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



The incubation period is from ten to fifteen days, or 

 on the authority of Theiler as long as 25 or 30 days, 

 though these are exceptional. 



The preventive measures consist in keeping animals away 

 from river - banks, watercourses, or low - lying wet land, 

 especially during the night. Stabling is essential, as pre- 

 viously pointed out, and the stable should be placed on 

 high ground. The benefits of altitude are remarkable, 

 even 40 or 50 feet may be of the utmost advantage. Smoke 

 from burning litter is recommended to be kept going during 

 the night outside the stables, it may help to keep away 

 blood-sucking flies, and as a preventive should not be 

 neglected. 



No animal should be permitted out of the stable between 

 sunset and sunrise ; if this is found an impossible restriction 

 a nosebag soaked in a solution of izal or creosote should be 

 worn. 



Arsenic internally administered throughout the sickly 

 season has been advocated, but is of doubtful value. 



Protective inoculation may be practised by Theiler's 

 method, viz., the simultaneous injection of virus into the 

 jugular vein and of serum from a hyperimmunised animal 

 under the skin. Theiler's serum takes a long time to 

 prepare, and a large dose is necessary, but it completely 

 prevents the disease with mules, and probably horses, 

 with a loss of about 10 per cent. It is to be hoped that 

 some method of reducing the time taken in the pre- 

 paration of the serum, and of the dose required, may be 

 forthcoming. 



Bearing in mind the extraordinary vitality of the 

 organism, care should be taken in disposing of the dead 

 to avoid soiling the ground, to disinfect all places occupied 

 by diseased animals, and especially the discharges from 

 their body, particularly the nasal passages. It is no use 

 talking of cremation in a country where there is no wood, 

 but deep burial should if possible be practised. 



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