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Show COSTLINESS OF HUMAN NEGLECT IN CARE OF TUBERCULOUS BROOD SOW 1 ' i Healthy Pigs Kept Under Sanitary Conditions Are Better Able to With. stand Diseases. They were only pigs, but the manner man-ner in which they were handled illustrates illus-trates the costliness of human carelessness. care-lessness. The story of how they lost their lives is worth the telling because be-cause the United States department of agrlculturs . believes that similar carelessness constantly endangers human hu-man lives. The story begins with a Florida farmer who recently sent a load of hogs to market. Upon post-nlortem examination by a government inspector at the slaughter house where federal meat inspection is maintained a large proportion of the swine were found badly affected with tuberculosis. To locate the source of Infection responsible re-sponsible for the condition, the federal fed-eral bureau of animal Industry which among Its other duties aids states in eradicating tuberculosis began be-gan an Investigation. Found Source of Disease. Tests of the Florida farmer's live stock showed no tuberculosis among the cattle, but four of his brood sows reacted when tested, showing that probably they were diseased. Determined De-termined to find the source of this disease, dis-ease, the history of the hogs was investigated. in-vestigated. The trail 5ed to New Orleans, where it was learned that two of the sows had come from Iowa, one from Illinois, and one from Maine. The federal inspector in charge communicated com-municated with the Iowa breeder from whom two of the sows had been secured, se-cured, and-who was a veterinarian. He was induced to apply the tuberculin tuber-culin test to his drove of hogs. There was a large number of "reactors" In the pens, all of which, on post-mortem examination were found to be tuberculous. tuber-culous. On the same farm there was a herd of cattle that had passed a tuberculin tu-berculin test several years before, but had since been on a show circuit, where they were associated with untested stock. Upon applying a retest to find the source of Infection several of the entile ent-ile reacted. When slaughtered they, too, disclosed lesions of tuberculosis. Here is bow the malady had spread to the diseased brood sows on the Florida farm: As pigs they had been fed on the raw milk from the infected herd of cattle in Iowa. Evidence Summed Up. Summing up the evidence, Dr. J. G. Fish, federal inspector, states: "The point I wish to make Is this: That the milk or by-products that produce tuberculosis tu-berculosis in pigs would produce the same disease In babies using the same milk." The trail of Infection Is now being be-ing followed to Illinois and Maine to locate and, if possible, stamp out the disease at the other souvces. In the case mentioned the tuberculous stock menaced Florida. There is no way of telling what state might be endangered endan-gered the next time. The United states department of agriculture advises ad-vises the greatest care in purchasing breeding stock and It states that even then before any animals are brought into direct contact with a healthy herd they should be kept In quarantine until un-til known to be free from Infectious disease. |