RINDERPEST, a general term covering various malignant diseases of •neat kettle. Rim.' derpest proper is an aaite infectious cfisease.of cattle sometimes of other ruminants, char acterized by high fever, rapid pulse and cessa tion of milk-production during the first few days of the attack, followed by congestion and subsequently ulceration of the visible mucous Membranes. The mortality is often as high as 90 per cent. This disease has been on record since the 4th century. It was first known in eastern Russia and central Asia, whence it has periodically emerged, causing havoc among cat.: tle and heavy losses to the various European nations. From Europe it spread to Egypt. It appeared in Somaliland in 1889 and spread southward, reaching the Zambesi in 1896. It caused great loss to South African farmers and led to troubles with the natives whose cattle were affected. Inoculation with a prepared virus has given encouraging results as a means of securing immunity. The stamping out proc ess is the only way to combat the disease.
This nlung-fever" is a contagious malignant disease of cattle attended by inflammation of and exudation on the pleura and in the lungs. A disease, somewhat similar, has recently attacked goats. This disease has been recognized since the close of the 18th cen tury. At present it occurs in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, but is under control in Great Britain. It was introduced into the United States in 1843, and outbreaks were re ported at intervals. By 1883 the disease was distributed throughout the Eastern States and as far west as Chicago and constituted a serious menace to the livestock interests of the country. No temporary measure can he used in dealing with this scourge. The only ones practicable are quarantine, restriction of movement of cat tle, slaughter of affected animals and disinfec tion. The wisdom of such measures is vouched for by the results. Less than five years and the expenditure of only $1,500,000 by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agricul ture at Washington sufficed to place this disease under control. No case has been reported in the United States since 1892.
Anthrax, a specific infectious disease of mammals including man, also known as splenic fever, charbon, woolsorters' disease, etc., due to the presence in the blood of the micro or,gani sm Bacillus an thracis. The diseased animal may suddenly fall to the ground as in apoplexy and die, or it may live 10 to 24 hours or more in a sub-acute case. The symptoms are
high temperature, muscular trembling and labored breathing with prostration. The pres ence of the germ in the blood is proof of the disease. All carcases should be burned, as if buried the germs may remain in the soil or be carried in the soil water. Cattle may be im munized by inoculating with attenuated virus, with toxins or antitoxin serums. Anthrax vac cine is on sale.
Blackleg, or• quarter-111; etc., called also symptomatic anthrax, usually attacks young cattle. It is due to a bacillus. Immunity to this disease is conferred by vaccination with black-leg vaccine.
Texas, Southern, or Spanish Fever, is a contagious disease of cattle caused by a para sitic protozoan (Pyrosomo bigeminum), and is carried from Southern eattli.to Northern cattle by the Southern .cattle-tick (BooPhilos bovis). Adult ticks fall from the cattle, lay eggs and thus infest the soil with young ticks that carry the germs. Northern cattle passing over the ground get the ticks and subsequently the fever. When the ticks become attached to the skin they inoculate the cattle with the parasites, which in unimmune animals rapidly multiply, destroy the red corpuscles of the blood, causing high fever and a temperature of 106' F. or more, general weakness and finally death. In the later stages the urine is highly colored, showing the great loss of red blood cells, hence the name water' for the disease. These symptoms and the presence of the ticks enable the disease to be recognized. Post-mortem examination re veals an enlarged spleen, containing a dark tarry substance instead of normal pulp. The ticks can be destroyed by dipping the cattle in a light lubricating oil containing dissolved sul phur. In the South cattle may be kept free from the fever by keeping them free from ticks in an uninfected enclosure. Young calves may be rendered immune by keeping ticks on them, and a considerable degree of immunity can be conferred on animals by inoculating them with the blood of Southern cattle, thus producing the fever. This disease has been widely dis seminated throughout the southern parts of the United States. Thanks to the Federal quaran tine from Virginia to California, established in 1899, however, so as to control the movement of Southern cattle into Northern States, the dis ease is steadily being restricted to smaller and smaller areas and bids fair to be exterminated.