JOHNE'S DISEASE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1412, 12 April 1912, Page 8

JOHNE'S DISEASE.

AN INCURABLE COMPLAINT.

Johne's disease, a very virulent discaso of the bowels is reported lo have appeared in various daily herds in Canada, especially in importations from the Wands of Jersey and Guernsey, anil for the reason that wo also ■ have made imporiations, reference to the matter is of interest. To date, so far as Canadian veterinarians have discovered, tlio disease is absolutely incurable. It may be described in brief as a very aggravated form of scours, which lasts until the. animal dies. The following, taken from (he London "Daily," is of'interest in this connection: Interesting information as to a cattle disease which has been the subject of investigation in recent years is being given by Dr. F. AY. Twort, superintendent of the Brown Animal Sanatory Institution, University of London, ill a series of lectures at the iloynl College of Surgeons of England. .Mine's disease, as it is called, Dr. Twort explained in his first discourse, is a serious infection. The animal's intestine becomes chronicallv inflamed, with verv marked thickening, the result" being that the animal ceases to absorb the nourishment from its food, and becomes very thin. The vield of milk diminishes, and eventually the animal dies. An important point, continued the lecturer, was that the disease, unlike tuberculosis, did not extend to other parts of the body, proving conclusively that it could not be a form of-tuberculosis. In this conurctjpifoSjperiments hndincideutally broueht oiit-the •marked difference between the. Tinman and tjie bovine tubercle, and were narticularlv interesting ill view of Professor Koch's statement, met with o storm of abuse in this country, that the human and bovino tubercle bacilli were different organisms, and therefore the bacilli of tuberculosis was communicated by man to man. and noUhrougli the milk supply. The .Tonne's disease affected bovines of all ages, but usually was not present in yen- young animals. The animal, probably, could never set. infected, through the milk supply, and was. therefore, not likely to be infected until aft°r it bail ceased to fake the cow's milk. The disease might last for two, or even three, years before, the symptoms were manifested: ne'-'iher dill, it show itself iu any wav by which it could be'diagnosed in its early stages. _ It was prevalent in most countries; in 'Denmark as many as 5 to 8, ner cent, of the cattl" on some farms died annually of it. Tt was also verv serious in the Channel Islands, especially in Jersey, and an interesting point in this conr-ecion was that Jersey, to all intents and purnoses, was en'-irelv free from tuberculosis. Since liinfi. when it, was fully described to the National Veterinary .Association, the (lif(""=e bad been recognised bv a number nf British workers, and was now'quite well known here. Dr. Twort proceeded to d»tml the rcf»aVe'ies which he and Mr. G. L. lu»rniii had been conducting at the Brown Tiislitntioiv lobova'ories. The micro-organ-ism causing .Tohne's disease bears many rescmblancs to the bacilli causing luminn leprosy and rat leprosy, and the investigations have been rarried out in connec-tion-with the bacilli of these dis-.-cases at the same time. ,-'■•:/;-MEAT PRODUCTION. " .SCARCITY OF BEEF. . Statistics recently published of the meat supply of Great Britain suggest tint before long the whole civilised world will ba obliged to change 'its diet or to increase its meat production. In the United States, in Great Britain and in many, other countries population grows moro rapidly than the number of animals fit for food. The inhabitants cf the | United Kingdom, for example, increased from 43,601,000 in lOOfi to about 40,861,000 in 1311, and during the'same period her Mai number of sh°ep praw only from 20.313.400 to 30,527,480, while her cattle aeti-'illv decreased from 12,252,170 to 12,00G.5C0" li-;atl. The consumption of beet and mutton per capita is given at ? 8 - in 1911. as compared with 80.001b. in 1000 and with R-l.6fitb.-in 190 G. Tt is evident, therefore, that the people of the United Kingdom, like those of the United States, are eating more meat as their wealth increases, oblivious apparently that they are exhausting their supplies. For some years past tho number of animals slaughtered has been too large in comparison with tli« average rate of propagation, lhus far the shortage in the British domestic supply has been more than offset by importations, but it is pointed out that even.this remedy has its-limitations. Inclusive of veal and pork, the meat consumption of the United Kingdom is estimated at about 1101b. per capita per annum. Even in 1881! Mulhall placed it at lOblb., as compared with 601b. per capita in 1840. Statistics regarding the meat consumption elsewhere than in Great Britain and the United Stiles are not yet available, but there is no.reason to believe that the position described is peculiar to the countries mentioned.