EARTHWORMS AS CARRIERS OF SWINE INFLUENZA
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Excerpt
Earthworms may function as intermediary hosts for the swine influenza virus; while the virus is in the bodies of the earthworms it is "latent" or noninfectious. These basic contributions to modern infectious theory are reported by Shope1 of the Rockefeller Institute. Swine influenza was first recognized as a clinical entity in 1918, at the time of the pandemic of human influenza. At that time swine influenza was assumed to be a veterinary manifestation of the human disease. In swine the disease is characterized by fever, anorexia, extreme prostration, cough and abdominal breathing, the duration of the prostration being from two to six days and the mortality from 1 to 4 per cent. Economic loss from this disease is mainly due to loss of weight (40 pounds, 18 Kg.) during the acute stage. The few fatalities are apparently due to bronchopneumonia.
Veterinarians of twenty years ago demonstrated that influenza can
