730 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



From the American Veterinary Journal. 



Hog Cholera. 



Georgetown, Ohio, Sept. 1858. 



Mr. Editor : — Much has been said in 

 relation to the disease known as " hog 

 cholera," and many items published in re- 

 gard to its cause, and the proper plan of 

 cure, and having paid some attention to it 

 for the last two seasons, with a hope of 

 being some benefit to the many raisers 

 and consumers of one of the products of 

 our common country ; believing I may be 

 of some benefit to others, I send you a 

 short article upon the subject. 



I shall not enter into a lengthy detail 

 for two reasons. In the first place, 1 have 

 not the necessary time to spare ; and 

 secondly, for the kind of paper I design 

 writing — being mostly for the use of stock- 1 

 raisers — it is unnecessary. 



"Hog cholera" is a misnomer. The 

 disease is not cholera, nor does it assimi-i 

 late to that disease. 



When I first applied to for some remedy! 

 for hogs affected with the disease, it was 

 by a personal friend, whose stock was 

 suffering from its attacks, and T had to re-! 

 ly upon the symptoms given by him, and 

 after the action of the remedy, from the! 

 large number of worms voided by the! 

 animals, f believed those parasites to be 1 

 the cause; but having afterwards noticed 

 animals affected by the disease, I thought I 

 the diagnosis incorrect, and then obtained 

 results from the most minule examinations' 

 of many that were suffering from the dis-j 

 ease, as well as those that had died from 1 

 it, that changed my opinion. 



The disease is a low, or typhoid inflam- 

 mation of the lungs. Many of the ani- 

 mals die without suppuration occurring; 

 and in those cases, the lungs are found in 

 a hepatized condition. Others pass from 

 the hepatized to the suppurative stage, 

 and show abcesses, large or small, in 

 some instances, almost an entire loss of 

 one or both lungs, while the intestinal 

 canal of the small intestines, is studded 

 with a milliary eruption, which, in some 

 instances, had undergone the suppurative 

 process ; in either stage, no doubt, helping 

 to produce, if not producing, the Diarrhoea 

 is, however, not always present. Some- 

 times constipation is an accompaniment, 

 and in such cases the disease usually ter- 



minates fatally, much sooner than when 

 the animal is affected with diarrhoea. 



High febrile action is usually present, 

 and very frequently the skin of the 

 affected animal becomes dark colored, 

 showing a purplish, or lead-colored hue 

 upon the back, legs, ears, or snout, or in 

 all those parts, caused, no doubt, by the 

 ai\eiialization of the blood. 



Some hogs have recovered after the cir- 

 culation had become so languid that their 

 ears dropped from their heads. 



I have no doubt but some of the cases 

 attacked, would be benefitted by a dis- 

 similar course of treatment from that pur- 

 sued in other cases ; for, as mentioned 

 above, all are not attacked precisely the 

 same way, or, at least, the symptoms first 

 noticed are not exactly the same. A few 

 die immediately after they are attacked, 

 or at most, very soon after they appear 

 sufficiently unwell to attract attention — 

 probably from intense or very great con- 

 gestion of the lungs, that being the only 

 appearance of diseased action noticeable 

 after death. Very fat hogs are more apt 

 to die thus than ordinary stock hogs. 



A most thorough trial has been made, 

 under my direction for two seasons, of the 

 following remedial agents, and although 

 the medicine has been used for several 

 hundred animals, but five or six of the 

 number have died, as far as I have been 

 able to learn. 



In some instances very many of a lot 

 had died, and the rest nearly, or all sick, 

 when the medicine was administered, and 

 no more died. In another instance, when 

 a part were sick and others well, the sick 

 ones recovered, and the well ones did not 

 take the disease. In other instances, some 

 of a lot took the disease after the remedy 

 had been given, but whether those that 

 were afterward attacked, had partaken of 

 the remed}', is a little doubtful, as the 

 whole stock fed together, and among those 

 persons who have fed the remedy to their 

 stock, are those who most confidently be- 

 lieve an animal will not take the disease 

 if he has taken the medicine for two or 

 three, days. 



It has unquestionably been the means of 

 saving very many hogs in this section of 

 country, but I do not suppose it or any 

 other remedy, will save all that are affect- 

 ed ; yet others who have fed this medi- 

 cine to their stock believe it will do it. 



