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Show KEEP YOUNG PIGS IN CLEAN PENS -.- -.-.or . v- . , :.y v j .c , sl v yvM s - it - v. j t' i r j ' X Iff -l--, jpi::!! Young Porkers Should Not Bo Housed In Pens Contaminated by Other Swine Investigations reported In a recent technical publication of the bureau of nnimal industry, United States department depart-ment of agriculture, disclosed additional addition-al evidence of the Importance of keeping keep-ing young pigs lu clean pens that have not been contaminated by other swine. A roundworm of pigs, known as Ascarls suum, Is held responsible not only for many deaths among swine but for a large proportion of the runts among these animals. Development Develop-ment and perpetuation of the roundworms round-worms Is fostered by badly drained and manure-covered hog lots, which are on this account dangerous to young pigs and not good for pigs of any age. Soil May Become Infested. Eggs of the parasite may remain alive In soil for five years and even longer. Places occupied by pigs harboring har-boring the adult worms in their intestines in-testines will become badly infested xith the eggs. Pigs farrowed and (?ept In such places are certain to pick up many of these eggs, and even suckling pigs are liable to swallow eggs present In dirt adhering to the teats of the sows. Investigations by the bureau have proved that after the eggs have been swallowed and have hatched in the Intestine the young worms do not immediately im-mediately settle down, but penetrate the wall of the Intestine and travel to the liver and the lungs. From the lungs they crawl up the windpipe and then down the esophagus and return to the Intestine. Only after they have passed through the lungs do they establish es-tablish themselves in the intestine and grow to maturity. May Cause Pneumonia. In passing through the lungs tha young worms cause more or less damage dam-age to these organs. Pneumonia may result and the animal may die about a week or ten days after Infection. Symptoms of this pneumonia among pigs are commonly known as "thumps." Not all cases of "thumps" come from this source but the worms are frequently fre-quently the cause. Young pigs are more susceptible than older pigs to infection and are also more likely to suffer severely from migration of the young worms through the lungs. There is no treatment for the lung stage of the parasite. If the pig survives sur-vives he may later be treated with worm remedies to remove the worms from the intestine. In such cases, however, It commonly happens that the animal has been so seriously Injured In-jured by the worms during their migration mi-gration through the lungs that even after their expulsion from the intestine intes-tine the pig is unable to make up for the setback he has received, although he does better than If allowed to go untreated. |