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Show . CONTAGIOUS ABORTION AMONG CATTLE r- 1 t M , I i - . x -t L " v--.-.'.-'. w: 'v ', beef Cattle Grazing in Virginia. In economic importance contagious abortion in cattle stands next in importance im-portance to tuberculosis; progress in stamping out the disease, however, - has not been rapid nor great. The disease is caused by the Bacillus abor- 1 us. and abortions occur compara- avely infrequently from outside injury 1 such as blows, horn thrusts, falls, etc., or the eating of spoiled feed or certain herbs, as has been the quite common ' belief. Moris have been made to discover some medicinal agent which would cure the disease, and attempts have also been made to produce a serum, 1 but this work is still in the experimen tal stage and no reliable curative asent bits yet been discovered. Our cain reliance must still be placed u;vii the careful and repeated disin fection of premises and of animals, together to-gether w ith the separation of healthy from diseased animals. Disinfection of Premises. The thorough disinfection of prem- : ises is essential. This may be satis factorily accomplished by carrying out the following directions: l 1. Sweep ceilings, side walls, stall : partitions, floors and other surfaces s until free from cobwebs and dust. 1 2. Remove all accumulations of filth by scraping, and if woodwork has become be-come decayed, porous or absorbent, it should be removed, burned and re- - placed with new material. 3. If floor is of earth, remove four inches from the surface, and in places : shere it shows staining with urine a s.Scient depth should be replaced to expose fresh earth. All earth removed should be replaced with earth from an ' u: contaminated source, or a new floor of concrete may be laid, which is very d.rable and easily cleaned. 4. All refuse . and material from stable and barnyard should be re- ' moved to a place not accessible to cattle or hogs. The manure should be spread on fields and turned under, Mle the wood should be burned. 5. The entire interior of the stable, especially the feeding troughs and j drains, should be saturated by a disinfectant, dis-infectant, as liquor cresolls composite composi-te (U. S. P) or carbolic acid, six ounces to every gallon of water In , each case. After this has dried, the j stalls, walls and ceilings may be cov-, cov-, ered with whitewash (lime wash), to r each gallon of which should be added c four ounces of chloride of lime, j The best method of applying the dis infectant and the lime wash Is by means of a strong spray pump, such is those used by orchardlsts. This method is efficient In disinfection disinfec-tion against most of the contagious Dd Infectious diseases of animals, and should be applied immediately following fol-lowing any outbreak, and, as a matter r'f precaution It may be used once or - twIce yearly. 5. It is important that arrangements i be made to admit a plentiful supply of sunlight and fresh air by providing an ample number of windows, thereby eliminating dampness, stuffiness, bad odor and other insanitary conditions. To prevent the bull from carrying the infection from a diseased cow to a healthy one, first clip the tuft of long hair from the opening 0f the sheath, then disinfect the penis and sheath with a solution of one-half per cent of liquor cresolis compositus, lysol or trikresol, or 1 per cent creo-lin creo-lin or carbolic acid, or 1 to 1,000 potassium po-tassium permanganate in warm water. The only apparatus necessary is a soft rubber tube with a large funnel attached at-tached to one end, or an ordinary fountain foun-tain syringe and tube would serve the purpose. The tube should be inserted into the sheath and the foreskin held with the hand to prevent the immediate immedi-ate escape of the fluid. Elevate the funnel as high as possible, and pour in the fluid until the preputial sack is filled. In addition to this, the hair of the belly and inner sides of the thigh should be sponged with the antiseptic. This disinfection should invariably precede and follow every service. An aborting cow should receive immediate im-mediate attention, and the animal should be removed to separate quarters, quar-ters, where she can receive appropriate appropri-ate treatment. The fetus, membranes and discharges are particularly dangerous dan-gerous and should be gathered up and destroyed immediately by burning or burial in some safe place, and this followed by thoroughly disinfecting the stall. The uterus should be Irrigated Irri-gated daily with one of the antiseptics antisep-tics mentioned for the bull, using the same apparatus, and irrigation should be continued until discharge ceases, in addition, the external genitals, root of tail, escutcheon, etc., should be sponged daily with a solution twice as strong as that used for irrigation, and this latter treatment should be given the nonaborters as well. Should the preliminary symptoms of abortion be detected, the animal should be removed re-moved from the herd and treated as above. After abortion, breeding should not again be attempted within two months, or until the discharge shall have ceased, as the uterus would not be normal and Ihe animal would either not conceive or would abort again In a short time. Great care should be used in purchasing pur-chasing cattle, and cows not known to- be free from the disease should be kept in separate quarters until this point is determined. If a herd bull is not kept, then great care should be exercised to know that the animal used is free of disease and to see that he is properly treated both before and after service. Whenever it becomes necessary to separate diseased and healthy animals, ani-mals, it is especially Important that different attendants and utensils be provided for the two groups. |