Cause.—The bacilli of Tuberculosis thrive in animals, especially those in a weakened condition, or when exposed to atmospheric changes, unwholesome food, dark and poorly ventilated stables. They gain entrance into the body through the lungs or the intestinal canal. They lodge in various portions of the lungs or intestines, and multiply very rapidly, causing irritations and formations, nodules, cysts or abcesses. They are the means of the bacillus entering the blood, which carries the infection to other parts of the body, as the spleen, liver, udder, womb, etc. Cows affected with generalized tuberculosis, that is to say the infection being confined to not only a small portion of the lungs, but also to any of the above mentioned organs, etc., may give birth to a calf having general tuberculosis at birth, or shortly after, due to the cow’s blood circulating through the body of the calf before birth.
Symptoms.—This disease may pass a casual observer unnoticed, although in some instances we notice a slight cough, unthriftiness, dullness. The coughing is best marked after taking a drink of water in the morning and then being exercised. Some animals keep up in good condition and look perfectly healthy while some get emaciated, have constipation, variable appetite, and sometimes growths or abcesses can be felt or seen in the udder or glands of the body and neck.
However, cattle showing any weakness, or the above symptoms should be tested for tuberculosis by the administration of tuberculin.
Treatment.—It is not advisable to treat tuberculosis. Thus far, medicine has failed to relieve the affected animal, or kill the bacillus of tuberculosis in a living animal. The infected animals should be disposed of on account of tubercular cows giving birth to tubercular calves, the milk being unfit for human consumption, unless it is thoroughly pasteurized. Infected cattle should be separated from healthy ones, as the disease spreads very rapidly. Drinking and feeding troughs are a means of spreading the infection, therefore, suspected cases of tuberculosis should be tested and if the animals react, they should be slaughtered, and if the disease is localized, passed for human consumption. The meat of animals suspected of having tuberculosis, or reacting from tuberculin test, should be well cooked.
TWISTED STOMACH WORM.
Cause.—Cattle become affected with this worm by grazing in pastures in which infected cattle have grazed and scattered their droppings. The worms in the stomach produce a multitude of eggs of microscopic size, which pass out of the body with the feces. In warm weather, these eggs hatch in a few hours; if the temperature remains about freezing point, they soon die. The eggs are also destroyed by dryness, but, on the other hand, moisture, if the weather is warm, favors their development. The twisted worm measures one-half inch to one and one-half inches in length.
Symptoms.—General weakness, loss of flesh, anemia, dullness, capricious appetite, excessive thirst, paleness of the skin and mucous membranes of the mouth and eyes, and dropsical swelling, especially that of the lower jaw. Diarrhoea always accompanies this condition and if the feces is carefully examined the small worms may be seen wriggling about like little snakes, or when the animal dies, and the fourth stomach is opened, these worms can be seen in large quantities.
Treatment.—Preventative measures are important, as damp, marshy soil favors the development of the embryos. High sloping ground is preferable for pasture. If low ground is used it should be properly drained; burning over the pasture will destroy most of the young worms on the grass and on the ground. Cattle should be supplied with water from flowing streams or wells and not stagnant ponds.
Medical Treatment.—Withhold all food for twenty-four hours, then administer Oil of Turpentine, placing it in an ounce capsule and give with capsule gun. Follow in six hours with a physic consisting of Aloin, two drams; Ginger, two drams. Place in capsule and give with capsule gun. When this worm develops in calves, give as follows: One dram Turpentine to a calf three months old, four drams to a calf six months old, six drams to a yearling. To cattle two years and over, give equivalent dose, or an ounce. The physic should be reduced in the same proportions as that of Turpentine.