PREVENTION, SYMPTOMS AND TREATMENT 



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Cysticercus Disease of Swine and Cattle— Measles of Swine and 

 Cattle. 



Of Swine. — Only the young are attacked — under 8 to 10 

 months. The disease is due to the ingestion by pigs of the ova of 

 Taenia solium in human feces. The six-hooked embryos enter the 

 blood from the intestines and become encysted in the interstitial 

 tissue of the muscles of the tongue, neck, heart, flank and thigh 

 of swine. 



The symptoms are usually too indefinite for diagnosis. Some- 

 times transparent cysts as large as a pea may be seen and felt on 

 the tongue or gums, and occasionally the tongue becomes para- 

 lyzed, or symptoms like sturdy in sheep arise from infestation of 

 the brain. 



Treatment. — The treatment is wholly prophylactic and con- 

 sists in preventing young pigs from eating human feces by keeping 

 them from pasture and keeping human excrement away from their 

 quarters. Human tapeworms must be burned. Microscopic exami- 

 nation of the muscles will determine the diagnosis. Measly pork 

 will cause tapeworm in man unless the pork is thoroughly cooked. 

 There is no cure for the disease in swine. 



Of Cattle. — Cattle of all ages are affected. Ingestion of the 

 ova or embryos of T. saginata of man is responsible for the disease. 

 The embryos migrate in the blood and encyst in the masticatory 

 muscles and also in neck, heart, etc. Diagnosis can not be made 

 during life; only by examination of the meat post mortem. The 

 disease rarely kills and can not be eradicated. 



Treatment. — The treatment is purely preventive in keeping 

 cattle from human feces, as far as possible, and this means the 

 prevention of human defecation about the barn or fields. Measly 

 beef will give tapeworm to man and roasting will not destroy the 

 cysticercus, as the heat is not high enough in the centre of the roast. 



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