22 DISEASES OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



occupied by those suffering from anthrax and from low-lying areas 

 under suspicion; they may be stall-fed. Marshy, infected areas 

 should be drained, and animals should be prevented from drinking 

 any water arising from doubtful sources. 



The disposal of discharges and carcasses of animals dead from 

 anthrax is of vital importance. The disease in man is chiefly gotten 

 from the hair, wool and hides and their products, while flesh will 

 communicate anthrax to man and animals if eaten. The discharges, 

 as feces, blood, etc., are teeming with bacilli and bodies should 

 therefore be buried with their hides and hair on and unopened — to 

 avoid discharges — and to the depth of seven feet, as earth-worms 

 have been shown to bring spores to the surface from dead and buried 

 bodies. The graves should be removed from highways and pastures 

 and surrounded by fence. Destruction of carcasses by burning is the 

 best method of disposal, and also of all infected objects. The 

 greatest thoroughness in cleansing, disinfection and whitewashing 

 premises should be observed, remembering that infected dust is a 

 fruitful source of anthrax in man and animals. 



Medical treatment is undesirable in animals, because un- 

 successful and since attendants can so readily acquire the disease 

 through the slightest skin abrasion, and keeping patients alive may 

 extend the infection. It is well for attendants to wear thick rubber 

 gloves. The use of salts and calomel by the mouth, together with 

 very large doses of antiseptics — as carbolic acid and creolin — in- 

 ternally, have yielded some apparent recoveries in animals. In 

 anthrax carbuncles, immediate incision and application of powdered 

 corrosive sublimate, or the actual cautery, has proven of value in 

 human medicine. In animals this treatment is inadvisable, as it 

 spreads infection. Also the injection of 5 per cent, carbolic solution 

 frequently and in many places about the periphery of carbuncles has 

 cured a series of twenty-eight cases in human practice. Carbolic 

 acid appears to be of most value and to be borne with great safety 

 in enormous doses in anthrax in the human. The injection of 



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