The Farmer's Veterinarian: A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Farm StockBurkett, Charles William
Science
The Farmer's Veterinarian: A Practical Treatise on the Diseases of Farm Stock
Burkett, Charles William
Veterinary medicine
=The Symptoms of Tuberculosis= vary according to the location of the
disease. If it is in the glands of the throat it is suggested by their
enlargement. If it is in a gland about the lungs, which, because of its
enlargement, presses on the œsophagus (gullet), there might be bloating.
If the disease is in the lung tissue there would be, after it is
sufficiently advanced, coughing and perhaps difficult breathing. If the
disease is in the liver, it cannot be readily distinguished until it is
far advanced. If the disease is in the udder it manifests itself usually
by the organ becoming firm or hard, and when the tissues are
sufficiently broken down the milk from that quarter will be changed in
appearance; sometimes it is thick, containing pus, sometimes thin and
watery. It is very difficult to diagnose tuberculosis from the symptoms,
as many other causes may give rise to similar manifestations.
As tuberculosis is caused by a specific germ, the disease is spread by
the germs escaping from the diseased animals and getting into the bodies
of healthy ones. The tubercle bacteria escape from the infected animal
with some one or more of the natural discharges of the body. For
example, if the cow has a bad tuberculous area in the lung, the bacteria
may be discharged into one of the air tubes and coughed up into the
mouth. Some of them will escape with the saliva and infect mangers or
pastures. Some of them may be swallowed and escape from the body with
the feces. If the disease is in the udder the germs will escape with the
milk. There are some observations which indicate that sometimes the
bacteria will escape with the milk where the udder is not affected.
After the bacteria leave the diseased animal and are left in the manger,
or in the pasture, or on the surface of water in the drinking trough,
they can be readily taken up by healthy cattle that eat or drink after
them. If they escape with the milk, calves and pigs that are fed with it
readily become infected. After the germs get into the body of the
healthy animal they will multiply and produce the disease, just as the
seed of a noxious weed will, if blown into a new field, germinate and
produce the weed there. Tuberculosis spreads from animal to animal on
the same principle that weeds spread from one field to another.
In order to prevent the spread of tuberculosis it is simply necessary to
prevent healthy animals from coming in contact with the diseased ones or
eating or drinking after them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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