Dublin Core
Title
Bang's Disease Record
Subject
New Deal Programs
Description
The 1930s saw a sharp increase in the number of cases of brucellosis affecting both cattle and humans in the United States. Brucellosis, also know as Bang’s Disease, affects reproduction in cattle, leading to premature calving, abortion, difficulty breeding, and often sterility. Brucellosis is also contagious to humans, spread by consumption of milk from infected cows. In humans, the disease was commonly known as “undulant fever†during the Great Depression. A person suffering from undulant fever could become septic, accompanied by fever, sweating, and joint and muscle pain. During the 1930s, the treatment for brucellosis in humans was relatively ineffective, and it was not until the late 1940s that antibiotic treatments for brucellosis began to be developed (effectiveness of treatment was still unreliable until the 1960s). As part of the New Deal, the United States Department of Agriculture began a campaign to reduce cattle production in order to raise prices of beef and milk, and the USDA saw this initiative as an opportunity to eradicate brucellosis. In 1934, the government established the Cooperative State Federal Brucellosis Eradication Program through which herds of cattle were tested for brucellosis, and those infected were slaughtered.
This document is a record of the results of brucellosis testing in Alice Hanger’s cattle herd in 1934. The results show that none of her thirty-four cattle tested positive, and only one was marked suspicious, which was very good for the time. On average, three to four cattle in a herd this size would have tested positive for brucellosis in the United States in 1934.
This document is a record of the results of brucellosis testing in Alice Hanger’s cattle herd in 1934. The results show that none of her thirty-four cattle tested positive, and only one was marked suspicious, which was very good for the time. On average, three to four cattle in a herd this size would have tested positive for brucellosis in the United States in 1934.
Creator
Department of Agriculture, Bio-Chemical Laboratory
Source
Louisa County Historical Society Archives
Publisher
Louisa County Historical Society
Date
August 24, 1934
Contributor
Louisa County Historical Society
Rights
RIGHTS AND REPRODUCTION POLICY All items in our archives have been donated to The Louisa County Historical Society with express permission to use them only for not-for-profit purposes of education and individual research. We make them available online to further those ends. Anyone wishing to use images online or in printed publications must obtain express written permission to do so from the Louisa County Historical Society and the legal copyright holder. Users assume full responsibility for disputes arising from copyright violations or invasions of privacy.
Format
Scanned carbon copy from original document
Type
Document
Identifier
054_2011_05_059
Contribution Form
Online Submission
No