1905.] Report of the Animals Division. 



241 



Ten years have elapsed since the Board were called upon to 

 undertake the extremely difficult task of eradicating this 

 obscure and troublesome disease, one which has never yet 

 been successfully dealt with in any country where it has once 

 obtained any degree of prevalence. In looking at the results of 

 the work carried out during that period it appears that in 1894 

 the disease was reported from seventy-three counties in Great 

 Britain, that 5,682 outbreaks were confirmed by the veterinary 

 officers, and no fewer than 56,296 swine were slaughtered, for 

 which compensation was paid by the Board. In the year 1904,. 

 however, it was reported from sixty-four counties, while the 

 number of outbreaks confirmed has fallen to 1,196, and only 

 5,603 were slaughtered as diseased, or as having 'been in 

 contact. 



For reasons which have been explained in former reports, 

 swine-fever must necessarily be one of the most difficult of all 

 contagious diseases of animals to exterminate, because in the 

 case of animals of six months old and upward, it is often so 

 occult that the owners are frequently unaware that their pigs 

 are affected, and for this reason a large number of centres of 

 infection escape notice altogether. It is a matter of by no 

 means uncommon occurrence v/hen the veterinary officers of the 

 Board are examining the intestines of contact pigs, in London, 

 to discover that some of them have already|passed through the 

 active stage of the disease and recovered, without the owner 

 having the least idea that animals had been affected. 



In connection with the recent extension in the outbreaks of 

 anthrax the question has naturally arisen whether any cause can 

 be discovered for the comparative prevalence of anthrax in 

 certain counties and for its sudden increase during the past year 

 in other counties. With this object detailed enquiries are now 

 made by the Board's inspectors, and, among other points, they 

 are instructed to enquire particularly as to the feeding stuffs or 

 other materials used for and about the animals. As regards 

 this source of infection it is to be noted that Professor 

 McFadyean has expressed the opinion that " a considerable 

 number of cases of the disease in this country have an 

 extraneous source of infection, and that the vehicle of infection 

 is not infrequently some artificial food stuff of which the raw 



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