STB0141925InfectiousAbortionInvestigations.pdfVIP

INFECTIOUS ABORTION INVESTIGATIONS INFECTIOUS ABORTION INVESTIGATIONS.¹ H. F. LIENHARDT, C. H. KITSELMAN, AND C. E. SAWYER . FOREWORD. Infectious abortion of cattle has become a problem of world-wide importance. The cattle industry of Kansas, like that of every other state in the union, suffers from the effects of the disease. Be- cause of the damage done by the disease, cattle breeders and prac- ticing veterinarians are growing more insistent each year that a solution of the abortion problem be found. The Kansas legislature of 1919 appropriated the sum of $5,000 a year to enable the Agricultural Experiment Station to study the disease. The appropriation was renewed by the legislatures of 1921 and 1923. This publication gives a brief description of the work done by the Agricultural Experiment Station on the abortion prob- lem from July 1,1919, to June 30,1924. STUDIES OF THE CAUSES OF ABORTION. In working on this problem, it was important to find out as much as possible about the cause of the disease and what part of the in- fected animal harbors the germ. Also it seemed desirable to make a laboratory study of the germ which is supposed to cause the disease. This organism is known as Bacterium abortum (Bang). Most in- vestigators are agreed that the germ is found in the uterus during pregnancy, but the fact is well known that the germ leaves the uterus within three weeks following an abortion and is then found in the udder. The aborted calf very commonly carries the germ, as does the after-birth or placenta. The bull rarely carries the germ, and when he is infected the germ occurs in an abscessed con- dition of the sexual organs. The di