Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever Page: 121
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TRANSMISSION OF TEXAS FEVER.
tedious microscopic examination is it occasionally encountered. The
fact that Southern cattle rid themselves of infectious properties on
Northern pastures after twenty-five to thirty days does not, therefore,
imply that their blood is no longer infectious. It simply signifies that
they have rid themselves of the means by which this parasite is trans-
mitted, namely, the cattle tick.
In this connection the reader may be referred to the various South-
ern animals whose blood was examined at one time or another during
these investigations. Thus, in the Appendix, estimates will be found of
the number of red blood corpuscles of Nos. 121, 123, 124, 126, 216, and
217, obtained at intervals after their removal from southern pastures
varying from two to ten weeks. The number was, in general, fully up
to the level maintained by the natives used in the experiments. There
are, also, records of a few southern animals kept on the station grounds
for longer periods, and subsequently exposed to Texas fever infection
fresh from the South. Thus, No. 117 exposed, in winter, five months
after arrival from the South, Nos. 32, 62, and 59 exposed one year
thereafter, and Nos. 55 and 60 two years thereafter, show the normal
number of red corpuscles.
The discussion which has raged so persistently about the health of
Southern cattle has outlived its usefulness or suggestiveness, for it
does not matter in what condition they are. So far as our evidence
goes-and this is very strong-they are quite harmless, provided they
do not carry the cattle tick. Hence there is no necessity for going
into a review of the statements of Gamgee, the Metropolitan Board,
and of F. S. Billings on this point. It is not claimed that Southern
cattle may not and do not contract Texas fever. It is highly probable
that every Southern calf has to go through the process of natural inoc-
ulation and reinoculation to a greater or less extent, and we have the
records of several calves of Southern parents (Nos. 86 and 87) which
passed through a mild form of the disease. It is likewise probable that
a certain percentage of Southern animals which have not been suffi-
ciently exposed while young may contract Texas fever in adult life
under abnormal conditions. It is not impossible that under the in-
fluence of prolonged marches, crowding in cattle cars and on vessels,
with insufficient air and food, the natural resistance of the body may
break down and the mild or unobserved infection break out into an
acute disease. These are possibilities as yet unproved, but they are
by no means ignored when we state that Southern cattle, to all appear-
ances healthy, do transmit Texas fever, and it is not necessary that
they have any symptoms of disease, recognizable by clinical methods,
to make them dangerous. We do not now wish to enter into any phi-
losophical discussion as to what constitutes disease. From a practical
economic standpoint we must maintain that Southern cattle may be
healthy and yet be the cause of Texas fever.
The various hypotheses which observers have framed concerning the121
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Smith, Theobold & Kilborne, Fred Lucius. Investigations into the Nature, Causation, and Prevention of Texas or Southern Cattle Fever, book, 1893; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143538/m1/121/?q=%221863%22: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.