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189
Public Health.
Anthrax
Order, 1910.
The Board of Agriculture and Fisheries has issued an Order, known as the Anthrax Order, 1910
to come into force on 1st January, 1911. The Order revokes the Anthrax Order, 1899
and provides that every person having in his possession, or under his charge, a diseasec
or suspected animal or carcase, shall with all practicable speed, give notice of the fact to the police, wh(
shall at once report the matter to the local authority, and the latter's inspector is required to inform th(
medical officer of health for the district. Upon the receipt of the notification the veterinary inspecto]
must at once examine the animal or carcase. If he is of opinion that the animal or carcase is not diseased
a notice, giving the result of his examination, must be served upon the owner and no further steps
taken. If the inspector forms the conclusion that there is good reason to suspect that the animal or carcase
is affected with anthrax, he must—(a) serve a notice prohibiting the access of other animals to suet
animal or carcase and detaining any contact animals ; (b) take steps to ensure that the carcase is at once
removed and destroyed ; (c) see that the place where the carcase was found is disinfected ; and (d) forward
such material from the carcase of the animal to the laboratory of the Board of Agriculture as
may enable the Board's veterinary officers to decide whether the case is one of anthrax. If the result o:
the Board's examination shows anthrax to exist, the veterinary inspector is required to serve notice upor
the occupier of the premises where the diseased animal was kept declaring the premises to be an infectec
place and requiring the detention of all animals which had been in contact with the diseased animal.
Provision is made in the Order for the cleansing and disinfection, at the local authority's expense
of infected places and things which may have come into contact with or been used in connection with an
affected animal, but in the event of the cost of disinfection being increased by any wilful act or negligence
on the part of the owner of the animal, the local authority is given power to recover the additional cost
so caused. The local authority is also empowered to remove and destroy any litter, dung or broker
fodder which appear to the inspector likely to spread the disease.
The essential points of difference between the new Order and the Order of 1899 are that the
existence of the disease must be confirmed bv the Board of Agriculture, and that restrictions are placed
on the movement of animals from the infected premises.