CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1239, 22 September 1911, Page 8

CONTAGIOUS MAMMITIS.

THE DISEASE AND ITS SYMPTOMS. Less than six manths ago inquiries mado by the Agricultural Department of Jvew South Wales into the extent to which contagious niamuiitis was affecting dairy herds led to tin nnnot;ncemont that the disease had not, to that date, causctl serious trouble, although.it certainly had a (inn hold in- certain districts. Information collected by tho veterinary staff.sinco tho last report, however, shows that the disease is more widespread'-than was supposed. Referring to tliis matter tho State "Agricultural Gazette" says: — ■ It is essentially a disease of dairy cattle, and is more or Jess prevalent in all countries in which dairying has been carried on extensively for. any length of .time, but nowhere does it appear to have occasioned such serious loss as in Now Zealand. Sinco at present we have no power of controlling this disease, it is likely to continuo to spread, and thero appears to bo no reason to doubt that, if not c'heckcd, it may becomo a most serious obstacle to tho dairy former. • _ Tho disease is bacterial, and is the result of the introduction of various dis-ease-producing . organisms into tho tctit duct and sinuses of the cow's udder. _ In tho majority of cases this ; organism is a minute circular germ known as a Streptococcus, but other organisms are nuito capable of sotting up tho disease, tile symptoms of which a'ppear to vary according to.the organism involved. In tho most ncuto type of case, which is fortunately not. commonly found, a cow which was apparently in good health when last .milked will be brought into the yard badly affected; tho udder liot, tense, hard, and painful; the milk changed completely into a clear brownish-yellow fluid; tho cow ol! her feed, shivering, with a staring. coat, high temperature, often constipated, but sometimes suffering from an offensive diarrhoea; the breathing is quickened, and. the eye dull. The cow 'gradually becomes worse, goes down and cannot bo got up, and may dio in forty-eight hours. Should she live longer, tho general symptoms became milder, the discharge gradually becomes pus-like, and she may linger for some days. In eases in which tho acute attack is recovered from sho may regain her general health, but the udder remains affected with a suppurating mammitis which may gradually invade tho other quarters, recovery- from which is practically impossible.. .The Common Form of the Disease. The more common form of the disease, usually, duo to Streptococci, .is far less acute, and practically never fatal. Often but ( littlo general disturbance is shown, and very little change in tho udder. Thero is usually a diminution of milk yield, the teat, duct may feel'a littlo thickened, and the quarter "affected slightly swollen and hard, without, however, any- pain, heat, or redness. The quality of tho milk often appears unchanged, except for the first quantity drawn away,.which may bo-, slightly yellowish. In other cases rather more acute, the milk becomes thick and yellowish, and resembles pus. If examined under a microscope it is seen to contain numbers of pus cells and Streptococci. If neglected tho disease becomes chronic, and often one or moro small hard nodules will bo found at the baso of the teat or in its upper part. Theso vary in siz/a, and are known as "pea" or "wart" in tho teat. Frequently cows which appeared all right when dried off and turned out come back into the herd with a blind teat or one of theso nodules, tho reason being that shovwas infected when turned out, and the disease has since developed. The Treatment. Treatment cannot'be said to be v«ry reliable, though the New South Wales llclJttfhflcnt, after trying several other illetudds frith poor results, has been successful with tho following:—As soon as tho case is noticed the cow is given a doso of Bpscm salts (lOoz. to IGoz., according to' size), the udder thoroughly fomented, and the infected quarter injected with a quarter of a pint of 1 per cent.' boracic acid solution. This is inado roughly by dissolving an ounce of boracic acid in a pint nd a quarter of water and boiling it till dissolved, and is injected by means of an enema syringe having a syphon fixed in placo of the. nozzle. An even better mixture, mado and used in tho samo war, is cliinosol. 5 'grains; boTacic acid, 6 drachms; and water, 1 pint. This treat ment is continued -twice a day for a week, ■unless tho milk appears fairly norma! before that time, when tho treatment 6liould bo discontinued.

To obtain successful results cases must! to treated in tho very first stage, and caTO must bo taken to bail the teat syphoii before and after using. The quarter should bo stripped before injection, the flnid left in for about 10 minutes, the ■uddor gently massaged, and the Huid withdrawn. When tho milk again appeara normal tho cow had best be dried off for tho season, ns it is impossible to tell, without microscopic examination, ivhethe-r the quarter is wholly frco from disease. In clironic cases the best treatment is to fatten for tho butcher.

Tho only reliablo treatment of the disease is prevention. When a farmer finds that he has tho disease in tho herd he should isolate'tho cows affceted and put in a separata paddock if possible, and certainly jnilk in a special bail sot apart. Ho should examine tho udders of tho other cows, nnd any which he finds with nodules or thickening of the teat should either bo turned out with a calf, fattened for the butcher, or put with tho isolated cows. Those cows should be milked after the regular herd, and tho milk boiled and fed to the pigs; the milker should wash liis hands thoroughly in a _ per cent, solution of lysol, kreso, or othe-r (fisiufecfnnt, after milking each oris, and the injection treatment should be carried out.

The bails ami sh«l should be given a thorough disinfection with carbolic, and the woodwork limewashed, this being repeated every month. In the rase of n Toally.ievtvo. outbreak, it iuay be found iwonary to disinfect tho udders of every cow after, milking, and. to make the milkers wash their hands in disinfectant after milking each cow, caro' being used that the disinfectant is not strong enough to tnint tho milk. The disease is usually spread from cow to cow by.dirty milkers' hands and dirty milking machine cups; but tnough .this, is tho most cemmon means of infection, it must not bo regarded as the only one, for dirty and infected bails may .-pread it, and in some cases it scorns impossible to altogether exclude infected pasture from tno sources of danKcr. By the?e varied means the disease spreads not only from cow to cow, but from one quarter to the other; aiu! n'len cows suffering (rom contagious nammitis aro sold into other herds, these in turn become affected. To Prevent tho Spread. To prevent it spreading from herd to herd, cows should not bo brought straight info the milking herd, unless it is known that they come from a clean herd, but kept apart and examinee! thoroughly. The ndvifsbility of rmaTantinirig new cows brought into a herd from unknown sources cannot be too strongly impressed, although it is very rarely carried out. In cases in which a fanner suspects contagious mammitis to bo present in his lierd, lie should, when possible, call in a Siialified veterinary surgeon to determine io question for him and advise; and in' districts in which no qualified veterinarian is obtainable, a sample of milk from the affected quarter should be taken in a sterilised bottle- (one that has been boiled), corked and scaled, and forwarded for examination,

Farmers are often inclined to.consider contagious maramitis of little consequence because the individual cows appear so slightly a(Fected; but if they will consider that in some outbreaks half the cows becpmo affected, and most of those lose ono or more quarters; that it is often very fatal; anil that ouco given a lodgment in

the herd, it may tako months and years to eradicate it; they will, perhaps, consider the advisability- of "prevention." There is t'eme hope that beforo long a method of inoculation will liavo lieen dovised, by means of which not only many ■ cases will be cured, but cows may to some extent bo prevented from contracting tlto disease. The veterinary branch ot the Now South Wales .Department, in conjunction with the Bureau of Microbiology, is at present experimenting in this direction. What New Zealand is Doing. The following note on the disease appears in tiio latest issue of the "Journal of the Now Zealand Agricultural Department":— , . "Tliis is a disease in connection with which the dairyfarnier requires to exereisc special vigilance. The insidious and vapidly-spreading naturo of the trouble should he remembered, and no risk whatever should bo taken. If any symptom of the disease appears, the affected animal should be practically quarantined, and should not bo milkej until all the other cows in t,he herd have been dealt with, so that there may bo no danger of the trouble being passed on to the other members of tho herd by medium of the milker's hands or tho cups of the milkingmachine. The danger of spreading contagion is really greater with the milkingmachine, not through any fault of the machine, but because it is more easy for tho first noticeable symptoms to be overlooked in mechanical than in hand milking. Cases often occur wherein farmers aro i.t lcnlsc lvofi unable to determine whether contagious inammitis exists or not. Tho Department is always ready to render assistance, and any farmer who is in doubt should send a sample of tho milk front tho affected or susnectcd quarter to tlio Officer in Charge,. Wallacoville Laboratory, 'Wellington, for microscopical examination. Pending receipt' of tho re- | port of tho examination of the milk tho cow should be treated as a possibly dan- | gerous animal, and no precaution omitted to prevent possible infection being spread ' from ligi* to others. Following tiro 111striictions as to tho collection of samples for examination:— , J? rs ' ; c .£ e ' : ,, ;u i ordinary 6oz. medicineboMe. Seo that it is thoroughly cleaned ant! fitted with a. good, well-fitting cork! Place the bottle aud the cork (but with the latter removed from the bottle) in a clean saucepan or other vessel containing cold water; see that the bottle is filled wA ~ lra ' :er > an( l place over a slow fire until the water boils. Then set aside covered until the water lias cooled just suflito «>e fingors to be put into Tlion, lift the bottle by its lower end, and hold upside down until tho contained wauy has all run put; pick up its cork by tnc top edge and fit tightiv. This will (f?ed° the tott,eis thoroughly steri-

In collecting the milk the udder and teats should be well wnshed with a solution m water of lysol or other disinfectant, and afterwards rinsed with clean water; then after first drawing away a little mi k, fill the bottle direct from tho teat; core ami seal it at once, and forward to tho Department. i