OCR Text |
Show VETERINARY SCIEN6E 1 I Edited by Dr. H. J. Frederick, State Agricultural College. LIVESTOCK TUBERCULOSIS. i & Colonia Dublan, Old Mcx., ik I2-28-'08. cscrct Farmer. Gentlemen: InlieKibsence of .avctcrinary, what is the bcsraiid Sfailsflnicthod of detecting de-tecting tuberculosis in cowsBf What arc the symptoms? H. E. BOCBHE. Answer by Dr. Frederick. V The symptoms vary according to the couisc of the disease. Two classes class-es arc usually recognized'. The chronic chro-nic form, which is by far the most common and the acute or military tuberculosis. The symptoms of chronic tubcrcu-' losis depend upon the location of the lesions and their extent. In such cases the affected may present the picture of perfect health and show no disturbance of functions whatever. whatev-er. Even in animals where the lesions les-ions arc widely distributed, we find on being killed arc in fine condition for beef without a suspicion of the presence of tuberculosis. Since the lesions vary so much in different animals an-imals it is not possible to give any proper description of what could be designated as characteristic symptoms. sympt-oms. There arc, however, certain general manifestations that appear in most advanced cases, such as falling away in flesh while the appetite may still continue to be good. This is nearly always a suspicious indication and especially if accompanied with a cough, a rough coat and a tight skin. Loud sounds from the lungs are suspicious and in advai.ced cases it is often found that the animal groans when pressure is brought to bear on the chest. Many cases bloat habitually and hard, painless swellings swell-ings (in lymph glands) "beneath the skin in the region of the udder, the flank, the shoulder or the throat are suspicious. In tuberculosis f the lungs it may be said' that coughing is the most noticeable symptc . It is most common after feeding, .'inking .'ink-ing or rapid moving, after a period t of rest, but Sometimes it occurs with- out any apparent cause. At times it may be very violent accompanied by a protrusion or sticking out of the tongue. WliQrcthelyiuplu glands in- side thechest cavity become affected they siictinves become so large Tt JBx thcyprcL on the oesophagus and t"hjBB anfmal bloats continually after being f fed. XulTcrculosis of the udder is dc- tocfen by an enlargement and hard- cning of the affected part and the t absence' of pain. The secretion is j not altered until the part has been I diseased for some time. In advanced cases instead of milk the udder sc- i J r, crcWs a yellowish clouded and sonic- i times floculcnt fluid. In api'tc, rapid- J ly developing cases thcrc may be pain 2 in the swelling uudenfthe skin. In H nearly all cases ofud,d1cr tufcerculo- 1 sis thc glands situated above the ml- I der arc enlarged and hard. The milk 1 can be examined bactcriologically and I thus det'crmine wlvcthcr the disease I exists or not. In all the advanced ' cases of tuberculosis the nutrition of ' the animal is interfered with and ""y sooner or later tuberculosis wasting away appears. We have killed animals ani-mals in prime condition after testing 4 1 them for this disease with the tuberculin tuber-culin test where they have reacted 1 and have found them badly diseased. II The acute form which is not so common com-mon as the chronic form docs not run over nearly so long a p'eriod. Large numbers of tubercular germs arc discharged into the blood and carried to different parts of the body 1 infecting quite a number of the or- gans at the same time thus causing a more rapid falling away of the animal ani-mal and1 death ensuing in a much shorter time. This form of the disease di-sease is more apt to appear in young animals than in adults and is more common in swine than in cattle. The principle symptoms therefore arc to be looked for in the enlargement ol the glands of the throat, the leg and the udder, where the animal appears to be eating as much as usual but in spite of this continues to be reduced in flesh, one would be lead to diagnose diag-nose tl..s disease. Yet the only posi-i'm posi-i'm method we have of determining whether the animal is affected with the 'disease or 1101 is the tuberculin test. This could be applied by others oth-ers than a veterinarian if they have; had some experience, but only sugIi people as have had -considerable experience ex-perience should try to perform this kind of work. In the tests we have made at Hit Experiment Station we have found a numb.ejpL cows infected infect-ed witlutliis disease, and it isNntr bc-liefjtllat bc-liefjtllat diseased animals havcoccn Jm V ytimnorted from other parts of hc flMr country bringing this disease into 'our midst. It is always muck safer to have an experienced veterinarian, conduct the tuberculin test in order to be absolutely sure as to whether the disease exists among your animals ani-mals or not. It would be a very good plaiuin isolated regions where there is no'ctcrinarian for the far- mors to club together and hire one to conduct thTH;cst for them. At the A I Experiment Station the herd is tested twice a year for Ihis disease and all brought into the herd arc , isolated and1 tested before they arc allowed to mingle with the -others. This is Che only safe procedure. According 'to the best knowledge and when we I consider that this disease is trans- missablc from animals to man ana the numerous instances we have already al-ready on record where it has been transmitted should cause us to guard the health of our live stock, at the same time guarding our own safety. |