Hoof & Mouth Disease in the United States
This is a viral disease causing extremely painful ulcers of the mouth and hooves affecting all cloven hoofed animals...cattle, sheep, swine, goats, and also deer, wild pigs, etc. Even though most animals don't die of this disease, it's extremely contagious and devastating: it hurts too much to eat and walk so animals just stand there and waste away. Another problem with this disease is that immunity seems to be very short lived.
I don't know much about the incidence of the disease in the 1800's but by the 1900's the disease had been eradicated in the United States and meat products from countries not free of the disease were banned. Any break outs of the disease (1914-1916, 1946, 1953) were met with fierce and successful efforts to test and eradicate.
The Mexican Outbreak of 1945 with American Veterinarians to the Rescue:
In 1945, Countries free of Hoof and Mouth Disease included: United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain, and Scandiania. These countries had a mutual agreement to protect that status by not importing meat and byproducts from other countries where the disease existed.
Well, in 1945, while much of the world was at war, Mexico imported 130 Brahma bulls from Brazil ... a country badly afflicted with Hoof & Mouth... and landed on an island near Veracruz and placed under surveillance. Despite vigorous protests from the US, the Mexican government moved the seemingly healthy cattle were moved to the mainland.
In March 1946, the US government learned that Mexico was again ignoring their agreement and shipping more than 300 bulls from Brazil. Protests from the US were again ignored.
On June 5th, 1946, the US got tough and issued import restrictions of cloven hoofed animals from Mexico. 18 of the Brazilian bulls had already entered the US and another 50 bulls were in Matamoros just outside of Brownsville, TX. This led to negotiations...Mexico didn't want to loose their US market and agreed to send the second shipment of cattle back to Brazil and to allow US inspection of the Brazilian bulls still in Mexico.
A little later, Mexico changed it's mind and allowed the second shipment of bulls onto the mainland. Despite this deception, the US inspectors were satisfied that the cattle were healthy and in October of 1946, the US lifted the import restrictions.
As usual, politics were involved. The screamers in the US were declaring that the incubents were helping their cattle raising buddies get a higher price for their beef by unnecessarily restricting cheap Mexican beef. And, of course, Mexican politicians were making hay calling the US bullies.
Guess what happens. Foot & Mouth disease breaks out on a ranch in Veracruz where some bulls from the second shipment had been shipped. The disease spread rapidly but it took a month before the government became aware of the problem. US and Mexican veterinarians were sent to investigate and unfortunately confirmed that the disease was in fact Hoof & Mouth. The US border was once again closed to Mexican meat imports on Christmas day 1946.
What a mess. Over 150,000 cattle had been imported from Mexico over the previous few months that might be carriers of the disease. All these animals had to be traced, tracked down, and kept under close observation. Luckily the disease didn't break out in our country.
It was a different matter, however, in Mexico. Despite quarantine and eradication efforts of hard working Mexican veterinarians, the disease was spreading rapidly.
In 1947, Mexico accepted help from the US which dispatched veterinarians, bulldozers, and other equipment. By the end of the year, nearly 1 MILLION infected cattle had been slaughtered and buried in bulldozered burn pits...one of the largest efforts of it's type to control disease in any place in the world to control disease.
As you might imagine, though, farmers were reluctant to have their cattle killed and there was a lot of resistance to cooperating with government extrimation programs. Mexican politicians, without the backbone or ability to resist public pressure, dropped the extrimination program before it was successful and instead instigated a vaccination program.
Now, vaccination programs in other countries were successful at controlling the disease but not eradicating it. One of the big problems was that vaccination only gave immunity for a few months. It was near impossible to get peasants and cattle owners to allow the government to vaccinate their cattle once let alone several times a year. Ignorance and distrust were rampant. Inspectors and vaccination teams ...despite being escorted by the Mexican Army... took their life in their hands in certain villages.
Another huge problem was how can you vaccinate the deer and other cloven hoofed wildlife
Another huge problem was where can you get that much vaccine? At first vaccine was bought on the world market, but supplies were limited. A laboratory was constructed in 1948 in Mexico City and by mid 1949 was producing more that 100,000 doses daily!
Despite the problems, about 60, million cattle were vaccinated, large areas of Mexico were cleared of the disease and in September of 1952, Mexico was declared free of the disease.
Imagine the huge effort and immense expense involved over the 6 plus years fighting this disease in Mexico. The payroll for hundreds of American veterinarians and their families was just the tip of the iceberg.
The actual story of going farm to farm in Mexico is wonderfully told by veterinarian James Porter in his 1956 book "Doctor, Spare My Cow!"
One of the interesting side stories he tells is how veterinary inspection teams were often escorted by a squad of the Mexican Army. According to him, Mexican soldiers were very poorly paid and expected to live off the land ... meaning they took what they wanted from the peasants... when they ventured away from their bases. Not only that, but the soldier's wives, kids, pets, and extended families often tagged along. What a mess to organize. What a way NOT to make villagers want to cooperate with the government!
Kudzu
Kudzu was introduced to the United States in 1876 at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Countries were invited to build exhibits to celebrate the 100th birthday of the U.S. The Japanese government constructed a beautiful garden filled with plants from their country. The large leaves and sweet-smelling blooms of kudzu captured the imagination of American gardeners who used the plant for ornamental purposes.
Florida nursery operators, Charles and Lillie Pleas, discovered that animals would eat the plant and promoted its use for forage in the 1920s. Their Glen Arden Nursery in Chipley sold kudzu plants through the mail. A historical marker there proudly proclaims "Kudzu Developed Here."
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Soil Conservation Service promoted kudzu for erosion control. Hundreds of young men were given work planting kudzu through the Civilian Conservation Corps. Farmers were paid as much as eight dollars an acre as incentive to plant fields of the vines in the 1940s.
Kudzu's most vocal advocate was Channing Cope of Covington, Georgia who promoted use of the vine to control erosion. Cope wrote about kudzu in articles for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and talked about its virtues frequently on his daily WSB-AM radio program broadcast from his front porch. During the 1940s, he traveled across the southeast starting Kudzu Clubs to honor what he called "the miracle vine."
Cope was very disappointed when the U.S. government stopped advocating the use of kudzu in 1953.
The problem is that it just grows too well! The climate of the Southeastern U.S. is perfect for kudzu. The vines grow as much as a foot per day during summer months, climbing trees, power poles, and anything else they contact. Under ideal conditions kudzu vines can grow sixty feet each year.
While they help prevent erosion, the vines can also destroy valuable forests by preventing trees from getting sunlight. This problem led Dr. James H. Miller of the U.S. Forest Service in Auburn, Alabama to research methods for killing kudzu. In eighteen years of research, he has found that one herbicide actually makes kudzu grow better while many have little effect. Miller recommends repeated herbicide treatments for at least four years, but some kudzu plants may take as long as ten years to kill, even with the most effective herbicides.
For more information about all the problems that Kudzu ended up causing, as well as recipes, poems, songs, medical miracles and benefits attributed to this creepy plant, here's a link to an excellent site.
Joke: He was such a poor farmer, he couldn't grow kudzu
Gardening Tips from Down South
How to Grow Kudzu
Choosing a Plot: Kudzu can be grown almost anywhere, so site selection is not the problem it is with some other finicky plants like strawberries. Although kudzu will grow quite well on cement, for best result you should select an area having at least some dirt. To avoid possible lawsuits, it is advisable to plant well away from your neighbors house, unless, of course, you don't get along well with your neighbor anyway.
Preparing the Soil: Go out and stomp on the soil for a while just to get its attention and to prepare it for kudzu.
Deciding When to Plant: Kudzu should always be planted at night. If kudzu is planted during daylight hours, angry neighbors might see you and begin throwing rocks at you.
Selecting the Proper Fertilizer: The best fertilizer I have discovered for kudzu is 40 weight non detergent motor oil. Kudzu actually doesn't need anything to help it grow, but the motor oil helps to prevent scraping the underside of the tender leaves when the kudzu starts its rapid growth. It also cuts down on the friction and lessens the danger of fire when the kudzu really starts to move. Change oil once every thousand feet or every two weeks which ever comes first.
Mulching the Plants: Contrary to what may be told by the Extension Service, kudzu can profit from a good mulch. I have found that a heavy mulch for the young plants produces a hardier crop. For best results, as soon as the young shoots begin to appear, cover kudzu with concrete blocks. Although this causes a temporary setback, your kudzu will accept this mulch as a challenge and will reward you with redoubled determination in the long run.
Organic or Chemical Gardening: Kudzu is ideal for either the organic gardener or for those who prefer to use chemicals to ward off garden pests. Kudzu is oblivious to both chemicals and pests. Therefore, you can grow organically and let the pests get out of the way of the kudzu as best they can, or you can spray any commercial poison directly on your crop. Your decision depends on how much you enjoy killing bugs. The kudzu will not mind either way.
Crop Rotation: Many gardeners are understandably concerned that growing the same crop year after year will deplete the soil. If you desire to change from kudzu to some other plant next year, now is the time to begin preparations. Right now, before the growing season has reached its peak, you should list your house and lot with a reputable real estate agent and begin making plans to move elsewhere. Your chances of selling will be better now than they will be later in the year, when it may be difficult for a prospective buyer to realize that underneath those lush green vines stands an adorable three bedroom house.
Tifton B Merritt
The Pig War of 1840
In 1840, the new Republic of Texas was financially broke.
The capital was in Austin: Despite its modest beginnings, Austin had several notable residents. President Lamar and Ex-President Houston both had homes here. The Bullock House, Austin’s first hotel, was located where Congress Avenue crossed Sixth Street.
The legation from France to Texas, in the form of French Charge d’Affaires, Jean Peter Isidore Alphonse Dubois, Comte de Saligny.
appeared upon the scene to assist the beleaguered Texans.
But, pending completion of theFrench Embassy buildings and grounds, de Saligny had to lease quarters from Richard Bullock at Sixth and Capitol. The Bullock House was a series of rough hewn log structures furnished with handmade pioneer furniture and operated by the somewhat crude, no-nonsense frontiersman from Tennessee.
This time de Saligny was to lobby for a piece of legislation known as the Franco-Texian Bill. This bill, properly titled, "An Act to Incorporate the Franco Texian Commercial and Colonization Company", if passed by the congress in Austin, would charter 8,000 French families onto three million acres of Texas with French military rights to establish and maintain twenty military forts and garrison ten thousand French troops tax-free for twenty years. That represented, opponents pointed out, more troops than Santa Anna had ever commanded in Texas.
Richard Bullock took an immediate disliking to the pretentious little Frenchman but he was not alone. The crude frontier ruffians of 1840 Austin quickly took to ridiculing the Count of Saligny—or, as they referred to him, the No-Count of Saligny.
No less a personage than Sam Houston himself took liberties in insulting the charge d’affaires. When de Saligny visited Houston one day wearing French military decorations and medals, Houston reportedly removed his Indian blanket and, revealing his numerous scars, told the astounded Frenchman, "A humble republican soldier, who wears his decorations here, salutes you."
But if Houston was crude, he was also shrewd. It was Houston, not Lamar, who later pushed for congressional passage of the Franco-Texian Bill.
But it was Bullock who seems to have galled (no pun intended) the Count. As soon as possible, de Saligny moved out of Bullock’s hotel and into the elegant French Legation atop the hill overlooking the capitol building.
And elegant the it was—hardware and elaborate millwork was imported from France along with servants and a Parisian chef. The Kitchen boasted foods that most Texans couldn’t pronounce and the wine cellar was probably the best to be found west of New Orleans. The bedrooms were furnished with French furniture of the period and fine linens.
The twenty-one acre estate included a fenced garden growing, among other crops, corn to feed the legation’s horses. It was truly the showpiece of early Austin and designed to serve as a governmental and social center for the city’s political elite that, incidentally, didn’t include Richard Bullock.
And so Bullock, who didn’t like de Saligny anyway, wasn’t overly impressed when the charge d’affaires moved into the French legation. Nor does he seem to have been overly concerned when his hogs moved into the legation with de Saligny.
Bullock’s hogs immediately established a daily routine of rooting through the wooden fence around the legation and feasting on the corn growing there. The hogs—and the Count’s anger—became the laughing stock of frontier Austin.
Things continued to deteriorate. At one point the hogs even got inside the legation and ran wild—eating the expensive imported linens in the bedrooms and even official French governmental communiques from the Count’s own bedroom. Today, copies of de Saligny’s posted diplomatic papers are missing five reports—allegedly lost as fodder for Bullock’s hogs.
Finally, the Frenchman had had enough. The legation servants were instructed to kill any hog found on the legation grounds and in February, 1841, Eugene Pluyette did so.
An enraged Bullock attempted to seek reparations for the lost hogs only to learn that the French were invoking diplomatic immunity from Texas laws. Not prone to protocol and formalities, Bullock approached Pluyette in downtown Austin and whipped him most undiplomaticaly.
On February 19, 1841, the Texas Secretary of State, J. S. Mayfield, received an official protest from the French over the incident. Two days later, Mayfield received another communique that Bullock had again threatened Pluyette and, fearing the innkeeper was going to kill the French servant, the secretary ordered a judicial hearing for February 22.
De Saligny refused to appear before a Texas court of law and forbade Pluyette to testify either insisting, instead, that ‘the Laws of Nations" be applied to punish Bullock. That must have raised a few mugs in toast around Austin’s numerous saloons.
The judge, in absentia, found sufficient evidence to indict Bullock. At this point, Texas politics got involved, and the issue became officially the "Pig War" and an international issue.
Ex-President David Burnet, always opposed to anything involving Sam Houston, had also grown tired of the pompous Frenchman. The fact that Houston was backing the Franco-Texian bill in Congress was enough to cause Burnet to get involved. Bail for Bullock was immediately posted by John Chalmers, who also happened to be the Texas Secretary of the Treasury. Bullock used the occasion to attempt an assault on de Saligny himself and the situation was really turning ugly.
When de Saligny complained about the course of Texas law, he was told by Secretary of State Mayfield on April 5, 1841, that "…you can obtain your passports when you choose to demand them." Meanwhile Bullock’s hogs continued to roam unimpeded throughout Austin looking for corn and the innkeeper had become the toast of the town.
Convinced that crude Texas law was an affront to the dignity of France, de Saligny left Austin for New Orleans effectively suspending diplomatic relations between the Republic and France for a year.
De Saligny, true to his word, used his influence with his brother-in-law to defeat the French loan to Texas. The Franco-Texian Bill, after passing the Texas House on January 23, 1841 was never addressed by the Senate and died through inaction. No French soldier ever was garrisoned in the Republic of Texas as a result of de Saligny’s initiative.
The only true casualties of the "Pig War" were the hogs killed by Pluyette—estimated between five and twenty-five—and the resulting injuries suffered by the servant at the hands of Bullock.
When Houston returned to the office of President, he made "satisfactory explanations" and requested that de Saligny return to Austin. In April of 1842 Jean Peter Isidore Alphonse Dubois, Comte de Saligny returned to the French Legation but by then his health was failing and he left again for France in July of that year.
The Pig War appears to have damaged de Saligny’s diplomatic career although he continued to play minor roles in Texas after annexation and later in Mexico where he married and had a child. Involved heavily in Mexican political intrigue, he was accused of financial fraud and was recalled to France in 1863. He never held another diplomatic post and died in Normandy in 1888.
Bullock continued to live in Austin, unpunished, after the affair. His hotel became know as Swisher’s Hotel after 1852 and was renamed again in 1858 as Smith’s Hotel.
The surviving hogs grew fat around Austin. Despite their annoying behavior they achieved celebrity status at the expense of the ridiculed Count of Saligny and his "Law of Nations".
How one pig might
have changed American history
The Pig War of 1859
By Chuck Woodbury
editor, Out West
One of the America's most unusual wars involved only one casualty -- a pig -- and yet it could have changed the course of history. The bizarre conflict took place on present-day San Juan Island (in Washington state) and involved American and British troops, and even warships.
The Pig War began on June 15, 1859, when an American settler named Lyman Cutlar shot and killed a trespassing pig belonging to Englishman Charles Griffin of the Hudson Bay Company. "It was eating my potatoes," said Cutlar, who had already warned Griffin to keep his pig out his potato patch. "It is up to you to keep your potatoes out of my pig," was Griffin's reply.
Normally, the shooting of a pig would be a small matter, but American and British tempers were short in those days. Both the United States and England claimed the San Juan Islands; ill-defined boundary lines were to blame.
When British authorities threatened to arrest pig-killer Cutlar, his fellow Americans called for U.S. military protection -- which they got in the form of the 9th Infantry.
The Brits responded by dispatching three warships under the command of Capt. Geoffrey Hornby.
Forces on both sides grew, but guns remained silent. A month passed without incident. British Rear Adm. Robert L. Bayes, commander of British Naval forces in the Pacific, did his best to avoid war. He would not, he said, "involve two great nations in a war over a squabble about a pig."
Yet, the scene remained tense and potentially explosive. By August 10, American forces numbered 461; British forces numbered 2,140 with five warships.
When word reached Washington, officials were shocked that the shooting of a pig could cause such an international incident. President James Buchanan dispatched General Winfield Scott, commanding general of the U.S. Army, to investigate and hopefully contain the potentially deadly affair.
Scott got both sides to agree to restrain their guns while a solution was worked out. During this time, both countries kept token forces on hand -- at what are now National Historic Sites called American Camp and British Camp.
The paramount issue was who owned San Juan Island -- the Americans or the British.
For twelve years, including the Civil War period, the issue was debated. It wasn't until 1872 that the question was put to a third party for a decision. On October 21, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany declared the San Juan Islands American property; land north of the 49th parallel was Canadian, to the south it was American. A month later, British troops departed.
And so ended the Pig War. If things had gone differently -- and war had actually begun, who knows what would have happened. Would the angry British have then sided with the Confederacy in the Civil War? If so, how would that have affected that war's outcome? Would it have swung the balance of power toward the South?
If so, the world would be a far different place today -- and all because of a hungry pig in a potato patch.
The Pig War of 1906
The Pig War was not a conflict waged on a battlefield. It was a confrontation of the economic variety brought about by Austria-Hungary in an attempt to put an end to the Pan-Serb movement, and, hopefully, Serbia itself. It is mentioned here because it was the incident that tainted diplomatic relations between the countries and created the atmosphere that would lead to the events of 28-Jun-1914 in Sarajevo.
Austria-Hungary had carefully planned the economic dependence of its Slav neighbor since the 1870's. By 1903 a whopping 90 percent of Serbia's foreign trade was with the Hapsburg empire. This disproportionate trade was mostly in the form of livestock, mainly pigs. While this "guaranteed trade" situation was not without benefit for Serbia, many Serbs felt, and rightfully so, that it impeded Serbian industrial growth.
In 1906 the Austrians decided to take advantage of the situation and apply an economic stranglehold by stopping the import of all Serbian livestock. The Pig War had begun and would continue for five years with unexpected results for both sides. The Serbians reacted quickly by opening new trade with Egypt, Greece, Turkey and Germany. That's right, Germany. It seems the Germans knew a good pig price when they saw one. By the end of the embargo's first year, the Serbians were exporting more livestock than ever before. Their economy was booming. Vienna could only look on in disbelief.
Public opinion outside the empire turned against Austria-Hungary since they were now viewed as bullies. Within the empire, the Magyars were less than pleased. This was a policy invented in Vienna that was having monetary implications in Budapest. It was also clear that this was an open affront to Slavs in general and Serbs in particular. The Pig War had divided the Monarchy.
The Pig War would be forgotton to the events that would follow but it is an interesting case study in a foreign policy gone very wrong.
The State of Animal Health in the U.S.
before the 1950's
from O.H.V. Stalheim’s book The Winning of Animal Health
In 1884, when the Bureau of Animal Industry was created by Congress, there was no indication that the United States would one day be a leader in animal health, veterinary medicine, or the production of wholesome food.
What few veterinarians who were available had little in the way of effective treatments nor people willing to pay for treatment. They could do some dentistry and treat wounds, and effectively treat some of the non-infectious diseases and conditions, but for many problems they were helpless. They couldn’t even diagnose infectious diseases let alone cure them.
Colic, for example, killed 12,500 horses a year on the manure-clogged streets of New York.
Equine flu among horses in the big cities paralyzed transportation.
Serious disease outbreaks among food animals up to 1884 included hog chloera, bovine abortion, bovine pleuropneumonia, Texas Fever, anthrax, mad itch, swamp fever, foot and mouth disease, equine influenze, fowl chloera, and ergotism. These diseases were causing serious hardships and problems. Kansas and other states enacted strict quarantine laws that were enforced by cowboys with shotguns. It was because of the huge economic and emotional devastation that these diseases caused that the bureau was created.
No one really knew what caused theses diseases. Knowledgeable veterinarians were almost non existent, and partly because of numerous quacks selling various useless nostrums and remedies, there was very little respect for “horse doctors”
Despite being totally dependent on horses and mules, the U.S. Army did not commission veterinarians until 1916.
Thanks to the efforts of the new Bureau of Animal Industry, several major diseases were eradicated, reduced or controlled...usually based on the successful European fight against Rinderpest by killing all sick and contact cattle. Early successes included the eradication of bovine pleuropneumonia and the control of Hog Cholera and Texas Fever. Hog Cholera killed as many as 50 percent of all hogs during outbreaks in the 1800's!
But despite these early successes, the state of animal health and care prior to World War 2 was awful:
Huge numbers of animals died from infections, untreated diseases, abuse, malnutrition, parasitism, toxins, injuries, and starvation.
Disease constantly threatened farm families with disaster.
For many families, the death of a milk cow was a calamity.
As the west opened up after the Civil War, and farming methods changed from small, family operations to larger operations, with animals being exchanged, shipped, and transported without thought of disease control, tuberculosis and bovine abortion (brucellosis) became rampant.
In 1922, 4 percent of all cattle had tuberculosis. In 1936, over 1 million cattle tested positive for tuberculosis or brucellosis.
Until an effective vaccine was developed in 1916, blackleg killed 10% of all calves born each year. Early vaccines developed for other disease turned out to be mostly useless of harmful.
Leptosporosis, a major cause of kidney disease to this day, first appeared in dogs, then cattle, then swine. By 1955, the loss was an estimated $100 million annually.
Other diseases causing major losses included pinkeye, rabies, anthrax, pox, Johne’s disease, milk fever, trichomoniasis, ketosis, leukosis, bovine viral diarrhea, vesicular stomatitis, dysentery, and catarrhal fever.
In 1918, millions of people died of flu, killing many more people than World War One, and apparently, this human flu mutated to become swine influenza killing millions of pigs in the midwest.
In the 1930's, erysipelas became common in swine.
Horses suffered from strangles, severe parasites whenever crowded, encephalitis, dourine, and glanders.
But just listing all these terrible diseases doesn’t begin to describe the poor plight of many of the animals on farms or working in cities.
During the 1920's, first the price of wheat and then most agricultural products crashed by as much as 50% causing a severe agricultural depression. Many farmers could barely survive and those that did were rewarded next with not a recovery, but THE GREAT DEPRESSION and for much of the country: THE DROUGHT! Farmers couldn’t afford to feed their animals.
The U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) started emergency programs to reduce the number of swine and cattle: veterinarians no longer able to survive in private practice went to work for these programs going from farm to farm inspecting, appraising, and killing animals! Those too weak to be transported to a slaughterhouse were killed on the farm; the rest were processed with the meat given to people “on relief”. Cattle owners received $16 a head.
Starving animals were common on the western ranges; one water hole was surrounded by 10.000 dead cattle. The bones were gathered and made into fertilizer.
During the Depression, an average MidWest farmer kept about 15 cows, raising them for cream to sell in town and hoping to feed out the calves on the skimmed milk and on pasture as they got older. But confined in winter to a pen in the barn, the calves developed rickets, ringworm, diarrhea, and pneumonia and many didn’t survive.
Each year, most midwest farmers raised 50-100 pigs, but if raised on concrete, they became anemic, and if raised on dirt became infested with parasites and “necro”...a filth borne disease. Most pigs were constantly itching due to mange.
Sheep and chickens suffered horribly from parasites.
Horses were often overworked and underfed. Many had terrible collar sores on their shoulders and necks. And so many horses died of sleeping sickness in the 1930's and 1940's that lame or crippled horses were forced to work. As soon as farmers had enough money, they bought tractors and thousands and thousands of unwanted horses were sold to the glue factories and to the canned dog food companies that started to pop up in the 1920's.
Only the energetic intervention of the New Deal relief programs sustained farmers and their animals. There were very few business opportunities for vets wanting to do private practice. Luckily for the profession, there were lots of government jobs available fighting the overwhelming number of disease problems devastating our livestock industry. It took a while, but things were going to get much better.
Blackleg:
Blackleg is a gas gangrene infection of young sheep and cattle caused by a bacteria (Clostridium) characterized by fever, lameness, swelling and death of the tissues...usually starting with the limbs....hence the name...and death within a few days. The infectious organism builds up in the ground where ever animals are concentrated (barnyards) and any little knick or cut is a potential site for an infection.
There are several different types or strains of Clostridium all of which thrive in wounds of various mammals leading to likely severe tissue necrosis and death.
Quick deaths on the battle field were tiny in number compared to the millions who died miserably from infected wounds a few days later. Tetanus and botulism are caused by a type of Clostridium.
Depending on the type of animal (or human), the most prominent symptom, the area of the world, or the suspected cause (angry Gods, witch craft, demons, sin) these infectious and usually fatal diseases were given different names when in reality they were all caused by various strains of the same bacteria.
We take this simple information for granted now...but at the time...no one knew!
But the story about Black Leg is interesting because there was in break through giving the modern world what should have been a Eureka Moment.
The credit goes to the French, the first to suspect and detect microscopic organisms, and prove ...with the transfer of the organism from one animal to another...caused disease. The most famous person, being, of course, Louis Pasteur with his work on Anthrax.
Black Leg, by the way, was considered to be a type of anthrax, but with tumors (boils). But three French veterinarians at the Alfort Veterinary School (I’m sorry, I don’t know their names) proved that yes, a microscopic organism did cause black leg, but that it was entirely different from the organism that caused anthrax. They too, demonstrated that the disease could be reproduced by inoculation of material from blackleg lesions into susceptible animals.
But that’s not all!
They found that if they injected the pus from a blackleg lesion into a healthy animal in the vein (I.V.) that blackleg did not result AND a significant degree of immunity was induced.
Eureka! This was the beginnings of our future understanding of infectious disease...the number one cause of death in animals and humans ... and immunity through vaccination... and I can’t even tell you the names of the 3 veterinarians responsible for this breakthrough!
It took OVER A HUNDRED YEARS for this information to sink in and for the scientific and medical community to accept “germ theory” and to develop vaccines and effective treatments.
But, none the less, this discovery was the beginning of a series of experiments leading to an effective bacterin vaccine used worldwide today to prevent clostridial diseases. Similar work would lead to vaccines for pox diseases and rabies. The French would dominate in these early discoveries. Later, the Swiss, Germans, English, and belatedly, but with great productive effect, the Americans would make wonderful contributions to our arsenal of knowledge and treatment of many deadly diseases.
