430 



Swine Erysipelas. 



[OCT., 



but these, unfortunately, are the very places where one would 

 wish to employ inoculation. 



Lorenz, recognising the shortcomings of the method, devised 

 another in 1863. This consisted in the preparation of a serum 

 by injecting protected pigs with large doses of cultures. The 

 pig, however, is not a good subject for the preparation of 

 serum. In order to get sufficiently active material the im- 

 munising bodies had to be precipitated by sulphate of ammonia. 

 At the seventh International Veterinary Congress, Lorenz, in 

 common with Leclainche and others, admitted that the horse 

 was best suited for the preparation of a serum against swine 

 erysipelas. A horse can be prepared in about two months. 

 The immunity conferred by the serum alone begins immedi- 

 ately, but it lasts for little more than ten days. It apparently 

 has protective properties even when used in the initial stages 

 of infection. 



Leclainche advises that where the disease has already broken 

 out the pigs should receive a preliminary injection of serum, 

 10 — 20 c.c, according to weight. This, he says, greatly reduces 

 the number of accidents consecutive to vaccination proper, 

 which is performed about ten days afterwards. The first opera- 

 tion is with a mixture (made on the spot) of serum — 1 c.c. 

 per 20 lb. live weight with a minimum of 5 c.c. and a maximum 

 of 10 c.c, and *8 c.c, of a culture. Twelve days later the 

 animals receive *8 c.c, of a culture without any serum. The 

 injections are made subcutaneously either at the base of the ears 

 or inside the thighs. During a period of eighteen months 

 ending November, 1901, over 24,000 pigs were thus inoculated 

 without accident. About one-half of them were treated by 

 preliminary injection of serum. 



In the first method of Lorenz serum was administered three 

 days or so before the culture, which was made with somewhat 

 attenuated bacilli obtained from the chronic lesions. This 

 was followed twelve days afterwards by a double quantity of 

 culture. Later, Lorenz combined the injection of serum and 

 first vaccine, but inoculated them at different parts of the body. In 

 1898,22,161 pigs were inoculated by Lorenz's method in Eastern 

 Prussia, of which 3,831 were on infected farms. In the latter 

 there were no fresh cases of swine erysipelas after inoculation ; 

 58 per cent, of recoveries were recorded in sick animals after 



