2 Anthrax. 



produced highly important and valuable results, and for which the an- 

 thrax bacterium furnishes very satisfactory material. 



Occurrence. As a disease of the soil prevalent in progres- 

 sive agricultural countries, anthrax is usually confined to certain 

 localities (so-called anthrax districts) where the moist, marshy 

 or periodically inundated soil is suitable for the growth of the 

 infective agent. In such localities the disease appears enzo- 

 otically almost annually with a variable virulence, principally 

 among animals at pasture in the summer time. On the other 

 hand, and particularly in stable-fed animals, it is observed more 

 rarely and mostly sporadically. 



In Germany anthrax formerly existed very extensively, and the losses in Prussia 

 alone amounted in the years from 1878 to 1883 to over one and a half million 

 marks ($375,000). During the period from 1886 to 1905 the number of eases 

 occurring quarterly rose from 0.22 to 0.62 for 10,000 eattle, in which the highest 

 numbers occurred mostly in the second quarter of the year. In the period of 10 

 years (1899-1908) the average cases were 172 horses, 4,489 cattle, 3,194 sheep, 10 

 goats and 100 hogs; and in the year 1908 the disease occurred on 4,536 farms of 

 3,832 townships, afEeoting 125 horses, 4,865 cattle, 369 sheep, 13 goats and 216 hogs, 

 that is of each 10,000 animals, 0.29 horses, 2.36 cattle, 0.48 sheep, 0.04 goats, 0.10 

 hogs; in all 9.5 per cent less than in the previous year. In the last year the disease 

 showed the largest extension in the government districts — Sehleswig, Posen, Breslau 

 and Liegnitz; in 86 per cent of the infected farms only one animal each was found 

 to be affected. 



In Prance the disease at one time existed to such an extent that Delafond 

 estimated in 1842 the annual loss at seven million francs ($1,400,000) ; in 1908 

 the number of infected stables fluctuated between 23 and 47 monthly, and the 

 largest extension occurred in the northern districts. 



In Great Britain the annual average during the period of 1899-1908 showed 

 835 outbreaks, that is 43 cases in horses, 893 in cattle, 58 in sheep and 223 in 

 hogs. In the year 1908, 80 counties were infected. 



In Austria the average annual loss from anthrax during the years 1891-1900 

 amounted to 195 horses, 1,334 cattle, 128 sheep, 40 goats and 60 hogs; in the last 

 years the affection existed per 10,000 animals in 1.3 horses, 1.7 cattle, 0.3 sheep, 

 0.06 goats, 0.05 hogs. In 1908 the number of affected townships fluctuated during 

 the summer months between 6 and 27, and of farms between 6 and 123. 



In Hungary there were affected during the years 1899-1908 an average of 

 273 horses, 2,542 cattle, 1,008 sheep and about 28 hogs, which involved from 821 

 townships in 1899 to 2,491 in 1908; the number of affected animals in 1899 were 

 2,962, and 7,540 in 1908. In 1908 the disease occurred in 2,491 townships, that is 

 on 5,090 farms, with 358 cases in horses, 6,411 in cattle, 729 in sheep and 42 

 in hogs. The greatest number of cases occurred in the low, flat lands of southern 

 Hungary along the Tisza and Maros rivers, as well as along the lower Danube. 



In Eussia the disease formerly existed to such an extent that in some periods 

 (1864-1866) numerous persons fell victims, and in the District of Novgorod alone, 

 during the years 1867 to 1870, 56,000 horses, cattle and sheep as well as 526 human 

 beings succumbed to the infection. At the present time the disease is still exten- 

 sively prevalent, particularly in southern Eussia, where the official reports for 1908 

 show 8,555 infected townships with 34,650 cases. 



In Switzerland the disease appeared in 1908 in 160 townships, affecting 9 

 horses and 192 cattle. 



^nthrax also exists in the other European countries in the north but not as 

 frequently as in the south. Thus, in 1908, there were 3,853 cases in Italy, 466 in 

 Holland, 395 in Norway, 878 in Eoumania, while in Denmark 143, and in Sweden 

 214 premises showed new outbreaks. 



The disease is prevalent in all parts of Asia ; in Asiatic Eussia, the ' ' Siberian 

 pest" (there known as Jaswa) which is identical with anthrax, causes great losses 

 annually, 95,316 cases being reported in 1899. The disease has likewise been well 

 known from the earliest times in Africa and America. (In Brazil it is known as 

 "gorrotilho" of cattle and sheep.) In Australia it was not supposed to have 

 been introduced until the year 1847, but at present it causes an annual lose of 

 300,000 sheep. 



