Summary of Bulletin No. 152
1. The existence of a specific contagious disease causing abortion in cows has been recognized for a long time, and it is certain that the disease known abroad as infectious or contagious abortion is also prevalent in the United States.
2. The infectious agent is a bacterium first described by the Danish investigators, Bang and Stribolt. This microörganism has been isolated from aborting cows in various European countries and in the United States.
3. Bacteriological examination of afterbirths from aborting cows at this Station revealed the presence of this germ.
4. To eradicate the disease from a herd, the affected cows should be isolated, and their genital passages cleansed once or twice daily with an antiseptic solution until all discharge has ceased, when they may be returned to the herd; all infectious material (afterbirth and discharges) should be burned; infected stalls should be cleaned and disinfected; the sheath of the herd bull should be cleansed with a disinfectant solution before and after service, and a separate, clean bull should be used for heifers and clean cows.
CONTAGIOUS ABORTION OF COWS
By W. J. MacNEAL, Assistant Chief in Bacteriology, in Coöperation With HERBERT W. MUMFORD, Chief in Animal Husbandry
INTRODUCTION