RESTRICTION AND ERADICATION OF THE DISEASE
Reliable methods for restricting the spread of contagious abortion and for eradicating it from a herd may be expected as the result of more complete and accurate knowledge of the nature of the disease and its mode of spread. Some of these methods, such as that of artificial immunization, are being tested experimentally by the Departmental Committee appointed by the British Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to inquire into Epizoötic Abortion. Until these methods have been developed beyond the experimental stage, the older more or less empirical methods will have to be relied upon. Fortunately these older methods can now be subjected to careful scrutiny in the light of modern knowledge of the disease, and they have been studied in this way by the British Committee mentioned above. The following summary has been copied, with only slight abridgment and very few alterations, from the report of this Committee.
"The methods which have been relied upon in the past for the prevention of abortion and its eradication from a herd are:—
(1) Periodical spraying of the external genital organs and hind quarters with disinfectant solutions.
(2) Isolation of animals as soon as they show the premonitory signs of abortion.
(3) Internal administration of carbolic acid to animals supposed to be infected or exposed to infection.
(4) Irrigation of the genital organs of animals which have aborted with antiseptic solutions.
(5) Removal and disposal of animals which have aborted.
(6) The keeping of a special bull for serving animals which have aborted, or, what is based on the same idea, the disinfection of the external genital organs of the bull with antiseptic solutions after he has served such a cow.
(7) Destruction of the abortion membranes, and disinfection of the parts of the buildings, litter, etc., with which the infective material has come in contact.