August, 1911.] 



131 



Live Stock. 



cases, and the milk of cows affected 

 with tuberculous udders, are a menace 

 to the health of the consumer probably 

 no oue will deny; hence, sufficient 

 reasons why • steps should be taken 

 against tuberculosis amontr food ani- 

 mals, (1) to lessen the loss of the stock- 

 owners, (2) to safeguard the public 

 health. 



In dealing with preventive measures 

 we may conveniently consider what has 

 been done so far under the two headings 

 just mentioned. To assist owners of 

 tuberculous stock practically nothing 

 has been done in this country except by 

 individual effort; whilst as to safeguard- 

 ing the public health, certain recommen- 

 dations have been issued by the Local 

 Government Board, with the intention 

 of assisting inspectors of meat when 

 dealing with the carcases of tuberculous 

 animals, and certain limited legal- 

 powers have been given to local author- 

 ities generally under the Dairies, Cow- 

 sheds, and Milkshops Order of 1899, and 

 to a few of the larger cities in the 

 country under the Tuberculous Milk 

 Clauses, to deal with milk from cows 

 affected with tuberculosis of the udder. 



It will, however, be obvious, that in 

 thus dealing Avith tuberculous meat and 

 milk, local authorities are only follow- 

 ing iu the wake of the disease and its 

 results, whereas, for any action to be 

 of lasting and efficient benefit, the 

 disease should be attacked at its source. 



The Second Royal Commission on 

 Tuberculosis recommended that steps 

 should be taken not only against tuber- 

 culous meat and milk, but also to eli- 

 minate tuberculosis from amongst farm 

 animals, but so far nothing has been 

 done in the latter direction, and 

 chiefly, I think, because of the expense 

 such action would necessarily entail. 



In order to effectually discuss any 

 measures towards the elimination of the 

 disease, it will be well for us to 

 consider how and under what con- 

 ditions the disease is spread, and what 

 well-established facts are now known in 

 connection with methods of infection, 

 which can be taken advantage of in 

 methods of control. 



It is now well known that the disease, 

 although occasionally congenital, is not 

 hereditary, thus giving us the found- 

 ation fact that young animals are, 

 generally speaking, freefrom the disease. 

 It has also been well established that 

 animals housed in insanitary and 

 tubercle-infected houses, almost invari- 

 ably become victims of the disease. It 

 has further been established that in- 

 fected animals sooner or later dissem- 



inate tubercle bacilli, from one or other 

 of the natural openings of the animals' 

 bodies ; it may be the coughing of in- 

 fective sputa from the throat and lungs, 

 infective faeces from the intestines, 

 infective urine and discharges from the 

 genitals, or infective milk from diseased 

 udders. Such being the case, can we 

 wonder that bouses inhabited by such 

 animals become hotbeds of the disease, 

 and that tubercle free animals brought 

 for housing therein soon become 

 affected ? 



Taking these facts into consideration 

 it becomes obvious, that in order to 

 eliminate or even to control the disease 

 amongst farm stock we must (1) get rid 

 of all animals suffering from the disease 

 that are dangerously infective to other 

 animals, (2) that houses inhabited by 

 such dangerously diseased animals must 

 be thoroughly disinfected before being . 

 again occupied by other susceptible 

 animals, and (3) that young animals 

 must be kept from contact with diseased 

 ones, fed on non-infective food and 

 reared in tubercle-free sanitary buildings 

 or in the open air. 



The open-air treatment of human con- 

 sumptives has been proved to be of 

 considerable benefit to patients, and its 

 bracing qualities must unquestionably 

 be of at least equal, if not greater, 

 to young animals. 



In order to carry out the above 

 requirements, it is apparent that two 

 things become necessary ; first, to find 

 out when animals are diseased ; and 

 second, to know when diseased animals 

 become dangerously infective. Thanks 

 to tuberculin, the first is a comparatively 

 easy matter ; periodical testing being 

 all that is necessary in order to find out 

 the diseased animals. The second is far 

 more difficult. It is practically im- 

 possible to know when diseased animals 

 become dangerously infective, and the 

 only certain and effectual way to 

 prevent infection is by keeping the 

 healthy and diseased animals apart. It 

 of course follows that once an animal is 

 known to have become dangerously 

 infective, the only proper course is to 

 have such an animal isolated, if not 

 immediately destroyed. 



Such then are the foundation facts 

 to be borne in mind when dis- 

 cussing preventive measures, or when 

 suggesting methods of control. They 

 embody practically the suggestions or 

 recommendations of the Second Royal 

 Commission, and have been put into 

 force as regards testing and segregation 

 by Bang, and as regards destruction of 

 dangerous animals by Ostertag, both 

 with measures of success. 



