110 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



the disease in its early stages. Yet even in badly affected 

 herds eradication can be undertaken with success. There 

 are records of many herds, in which three-fourths of the 

 animals were affected with tuberculosis, which eventually 

 were freed from it and afterwards maintained in a healthy 

 condition. 



The extirpation of tuberculosis from live stock is im- 

 portant not only from an economic standpoint, but also be- 

 cause a considerable percentage of tuberculosis in the hu- 

 man family, especially among children, is positively due to 

 the consumption of infected milk or other dairy products 

 from tuberculous cows. It is eminently proper for the re- 

 spective State governments to expend funds for the main- 

 tenance of tuberculosis sanitariums for the care of persons 

 afflicted with that disease, and likewise it is extremely 

 important to use vigorous measures to check the marketing 

 of germ-laden milk. While it is true that proper pasteur- 

 ization of milk destroys the living organisms of tuberculosis, 

 aj large part of the milk consumed daily is not pasteurized, 

 and some of the milk so treated is not always made entirely 

 safe. 



Tuberculosis a Deceptive Disease. 



If tuberculosis were similar to foot-and-mouth disease 

 in cattle, swine, and sheep, which causes rather spectacular 

 symptoms, it would arouse immediate alarm among the live- 

 stock owners, who would insist upon its immediate eradica- 

 tion; but because it is generally slow in developing and its 

 symptoms commonly are not easily recognized from the 

 general outward appearance of the animals, many people 

 believe that it does comparatively little damage among live 

 stock. Contrary to such opinions, however, the loss from 

 tuberculosis is one of the heaviest taxes imposed upon our 

 live-stock industry, amounting, probably, to at least $40,- 

 000,000 a year in the United States,. 



Prevalence of Tuberculosis. 



In every State and Territory in the Union there is some 

 tuberculosis among cattle and swine, though the degree 

 varies considerably. In some States it probably exists quite 



