NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
218 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
of the drug in a 5 per cent solution and all the animals were kept in dark, fly-free
stables. An unsatisfactory feature of these experiments, however, was that,
except one animal, none showed trypanosomes in blood before treatment,
diagnosis having been made from symptoms alone, and the author states that
" the buffalo is a difficult animal to deal with ". Three Bengal oxen showing
surra trypanosomes in their blood were also treated by him with the same
drug and their blood remained negative for one month after a single injection of
5 grms. It is of interest that in the Annual Report of the Department of Agricul-
ture, Java, 1922, Naganol is mentioned, as having yielded "encouraging results
in acute surra in bovines".
Lagas [ 1926 ], in Sumatra, treated 811 buffaloes " prophylactically" with
Naganol, from October 1924 to April 1925. Sixty-four of these were healthy
carriers, ninety-four showed clinical symptoms of the disease and forty-two
showed the parasites in their circulating blood. During this period, forty-nine of
the treated buffaloes died from various causes and nine showed trypanosomes in
their blood, the intervals between appearances of the parasites ranging from 5
weeks to 10 months. Eight of the animals received a second dose of 2-4 grms.
of Naganol and none of these relapsed " up to the present " (the article was pub-
lished in April 1926).
In a recent paper, Bakker [ 1932], in the Dutch East Indies, has recorded
having successfully used Naganol in 5-grm. doses in the treatment of 130 adult
buffaloes affected with surra. He also reports having obtained encouraging
results in the treatment of surra in cattle with the same drug.
A perusal of the available records of work carried out in India upon the treat-
ment of bovine surra shows that some of the earliest attempts to cure the disease
in this country were made by means of atoxyl and certain indigenous remedies
[ Chetti, 1922 ; Rao, 1923 ], but these came to be gradually replaced by tartar eme-
tic, which held the ground for some length of time and is in favour with certain
workers even to this day. Concerning this drug, however, Edwards [ 1926 ],
as a result of experiments carried out at Muktesar, observes that although a single
injection of the drug at the rate of 5 c.c. of a 3.2 per cent solution per 100 lb. body
weight frequently produces a recovery, it is known " that the parasites remain
thereafter in a state of latent activity ". This conclusion has quite recently been
confirmed by Sarwar [ 1936 ], who found that cattle treated for surra with tartar
emetic continued to harbour the parasites, as determined by biological tests.
On the other hand, Iyer and Sarwar [ 1935 ] obtained what would appear to be
consistently satisfactory results in combating a natural outbreak of bovine surra
in the Punjab, from the use of Naganol administered intravenously at the rate of
10 to 20 c.c. of a 10 per cent solution, depending upon the size of the animal
concerned. Similar results had also been previously reported by Mahajan [1934 ]
Ind. Jour. Vety. Sci. & Anim. Husb. Vol. VI, Pt. III.
PLATE VII
FIG. 1. —A view of one of the fly-proof stables, with the double-door closed.
FIG. 2.—A view of the double-door while open.
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
219
from Hyderabad-Deccan. As will be seen from what is stated in the following
section, Naganol was also the drug used throughout the experiments described in
the present paper.
Rodenwaldt and Douwes [1922], however, would appear to discredit all
reports of alleged " cures " in buffaloes and in other animals suffering from
chronic surra infections, for according to these authors, such animals frequently
show long remissions during which " the trypanosomes are so scanty in the blood
that they may be undiscoverable ". They refer to the futility of studying the
action of Naganol upon surra in isolated cases and stress the importance of carry-
ing out large-scale experiments before any conclusions can be drawn regarding
the efficacy of this drug for surra in buffaloes.
It would seem that the final conclusion to be arrived at in regard to the pro-
spects of obtaining cures in surra in the bovine subject by means of drug treatment
will have to be based upon the results of a series of large-scale experiments, as sug-
gested by Rodenwaldt and Douwes [ 1922 ], with due regard to the possibility
that a proportion of the reported relapses in the past may have been, in reality,
cases of re-infection contracted through the agency of insect vectors. As will
be seen presently, this possibility was borne in mind when planning the present
investigation.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
In the present investigation a total of fifteen animals, comprising six hill
bulls and nine buffaloes, were employed. As will be explained later, two out of
the nine buffaloes had been actually brought under experimentation long before
the trials originating out of the Australian inquiry were commenced, while
two buffaloes died and one buffalo had to be discarded and replaced by
another during the progress of the investigation. Except for these six cases, the
observation period in the case of all others, was about one year and a half.
The experimental animals were housed in two especially-constructed fly-
proof stables (Plate VII, fig. 1) in order to prevent them from contracting a natural
infection through the agency of biting flies. At the entrance, the stables were
provided with double-doors (Plate VII, fig. 2) designed to prevent any possibility
of access of flies while the attendants are entering or leaving the premises. The
windows and the ventilators were covered with wire-netting, while all outlets for
the drainage of urine and stable washings were suitably screened or plugged up.
It is almost needless to emphasize the importance of protective measures of this
kind, for, as Musgrave and Clegg [ 1903 ] have remarked, " to obtain satisfactory
results such a structure is an absolute necessity ".
The strain of T. evansi used in these trials had been repeatedly proved to be
highly virulent on the equine subject and had been maintained for a number of
years in the laboratory by passing through rabbits and guinea-pigs,
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN
BOVINES
221
FIG. 1.
222 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
THE COURSE THAT SURRA RUNS IN BOVINES AND OBSERVATIONS UPON
THE EFFECT OF NAGANOL IN THE CONTROL OF THIS CONDITION
A perusal of the available literature shows that, while a considerable amount
of valuable observations has been made upon the clinical symptoms of equine
surra, the information on record concerning the course run by surra in bovines is
very fragmentary. The present trials provided an excellent opportunity of main-
taining an accurate record of the symptoms exhibited by the " control " animals
during, as already mentioned, an observation period of a year and a half and a
brief account of these symptoms may be appropriately included here.
Fig. I, which represents the chart of " Control "Buffalo No. 6, is illustrative
of the course of the disease as usually observed in bovines. As will be seen, this
animal developed the infection after an incubation period of about one week
and during the following five days it showed consistently large numbers of
parasites in the circulating blood, with a corresponding elevation in the body tem-
perature. During the eighteen days that followed, the parasites continued to make
their appearance in an erratic manner, until after a sudden increase in their num-
bers about the 30th day from the date of infective inoculation, they disappeared
altogether. Curiously, although the parasites were never again seen in blood
smears from this animal, nor was there a suspicious rise in its body temperature,
its blood proved infective on sub-inoculation into rabbits, at the end of the second
month from the date on which the parasites were last encountered on smear
examination (Table I).
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
223
TABLE I
Summary of observations upon " control " animals
Serial
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Animal
No.
Buffalo 6 .
Buffalo 4 .
Buffaio 1849 .
Buffalo 1B. .
Bull 1035 .
Bull 1055 .
Dates of
infection
May 6, 1932 .
September 19,
1932.
April 29, 1930
.
May 6, 1932 .
May 6, 1932 .
May 6, 1932 .
Dates-on. which the
results of blood smear
examination were
positive
May 13-21, 23, 26,
28-29, June 1, 6, 1932.
September
25-29,
October 8-9, 20-21,
November 18, 1932.
May 6-8, July 19, 25,
August 11, 1930.
May 11-14, 28-29, 1932
May 10-14, August 19,
1932.
May 11-13, 1932
Dates of sub-inoculation
into rabbits, Positive
results are indicated
by asterisks (*)
April 22, August 6*,
November 6, 1932 ;
February 6, 1933.
December 21, 1932 ;
March 21*, June 20,
1933.
May 17, September
8, 1931 ; January
21, August 6, Novem-
ber 6, 1932 ; February
6, 1933.
April 22, August 6*,
November 6, 1932 ;
February 6, 1933.
April 22, August 6,
November 6, 1932 ;
February 6, 1933.
Remarks
Died February 27, 1933
of haemorrhagic sep-
ticaemia.
Discontinued December
20, 1933.
Discontinued December
20, 1933.
Discarded
June
15,
1932.
Discontinued December
20, 1933.
Discontinued December
20, 1933.
224 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
The protocol of Buffalo No. 4 (Table I) illustrates the difficulty of declaring
an animal as cured on the basis of results obtained from a single series of sub-
inoculations. As will be seen, this animal developed the infection after an incuba-
tion period of about one week and it showed the parasites in its blood on three
occasions during the period of about one month and a half that followed. Two
rabbits were sub-inoculated from this animal about the third month from the date
of infective inoculation, but neither developed the infection. On the other hand,
when the sub-inoculation was repeated about three months later, the results were
positive. The spasmodic behaviour of the parasites in bovines is likewise charac-
teristically illustrated in the case of Hill Bull No. 1035 (Table I). In this case, the
parasites, after a continued absence in the circulating blood for a period of more
than three months, suddenly re-appeared for a single day and were never
encountered again on blood smear examination.
The history of Buffalo No. 1849 provides a feature of special interest in
that it was kept under observation for as long a period as three years and eight
months (29th April 1930 to 20th December 1933). This animal, which
represented the " control" to Buffalo No. 1897 (infra), had been actually
brought under experimentation long before the main series of experiments
originating out of the Australian inquiry were initiated. On referring to Table I,
it will be observed that in the case of this animal, the parasites were encoun-
tered on four occasions on blood smear examination, at intervals of 71, 5 and 16
days respectively. Sub-inoculation from this animal into rabbits was not com-
menced until after about one year from the date of infective inoculation and was
repeated on five occasions at intervals of 113, 134, 196 and, later, at three-monthly
intervals, but the results were all negative. It is noteworthy that neither in the
case of this animal, nor in the case of Buffalo No. 1897, which represented its pair,
was any special precautionary measure adopted to protect them from bites of flies,
until after an expiry of about two years from the date of infective inoculation,
when they were housed, along with the other animals, in fly-proof stables.
Bull No. 1055 represents an extreme instance where the inoculation of surra
parasite failed to produce any results whatsoever, beyond the usual reaction fol-
lowing upon the incubation period of the disease.
Buffalo No. 1 B had been originally included in the series of " controls ", but
having proved unsuitable for use, it bad to be discarded and replaced, about three
months later, by Buffalo No. 4 to which a reference has already been made. As
will be seen from Table I, this animal relapsed after an apparent recovery lasting
for only about 13 days.
It is noteworthy that while the initial reaction of the disease was definitely
a thermal reaction associated with the occurrence of varying numbers of parasites
in the circulating blood, the relapses, on the other hand, were, as a rule, devoid
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
225
of any febrile symptoms and were characterized by the appearance of the parasites
only. This would appear to be in striking contrast with what one observes
in the case of equine surra, in which the succession of parasitic relapses is almost
invariably associated with elevation of body temperature.
In regard to the animals treated with Naganol, a single injection of the drug,
administered at the rate of 5 grms. per 1,000 lb. body weight, invariably resulted
in a complete sterilization of the circulating blood, as judged by the results of blood-
smear examination and of periodical sub-inoculation of blood into small animals
(Table II). In all cases, the parasites disappeared from the circulating blood with-
in 24 hours of the injection of the drug (Figs. 2 and 3) and did not appear again
during the observation period of (in the majority of cases) one year and a half.
It is to be mentioned, however, that Buffalo No. 1574 died of enteritis and debility
about 11 months prior to the date (December 20, 1933) on which it was due to be
discontinued and that no opportunity, therefore, occurred for testing the infectivity
of its blood on a susceptible equine subject. Nevertheless, the post-treatment
period of about eight months and a half during which it was kept under observation
would appear for all practical purposes to be sufficiently long for assessing the
value of the remedy in this case.
226 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
FIG. 2.
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
227
TABLE II
Summary of observations upon treated animals
Serial
No.
1
2
3
4
5
Animal
No.
Buffalo 7 .
Buffalo 1673 .
Buffalo 1574 .
Buffalo 12 .
Buffalo 1897 .
Date of
infection
May 6, 1932
.
May 6, 1932 .
May 6, 1932
.
May 6, 1932
.
April 29, 1930 .
Date of
treatment with
Naganol
May 12, 1932.
May 16, 1932.
May 14, 1932.
May 14,
August 14,
November 14,
1932.
May 6, 1930.
Dates on which
the results of
blood smear ex-
amination were
positive
May 11, 12, 1932.
May
14, 15,
16, 1932.
May 13,
14,
1932.
May
12, 13,
14, 1932.
May 6, 1930 .
Dates of sub-inocula-
tion into rabbits
(results all
negative)
April 22, August 12,
November 12, 1932;
February 15, 1933.
April 22, August 16,
November 16, 1932;
February 17, 1933.
April 22, August 14,
November 14, 1932.
April 22, August 14,
November 14, 1932 ;
February 17, 1933.
August
31, Sep-
tember 25, 1930 ;
May 17, September
10, 1931 ; January
21, August 16, No-
vember 16, 1932 ;
February 17, 1933.
Remarks
Discontinued
December
20,
1933.
Discontinued
December
20,
1933.
Died January 30,
1933 of enteritis
and debility.
Discontinued
December
20,
1933.
Discontinued
December
20,
1933.
228 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
Serial
No.
6
7
8
9
Animal
No.
Bull 1064 .
Bull 1047 .
Bull 1059 .
Bull 1038 .
Date of
infection.
May 6, 1932
.
May 6, 1932
.
May 6, 1932
.
May 6, 1932
.
Date of
treatment with
Naganol
May 12,1932.
May 12, 1932.
May 12, 1932.
May 14,
August 14,
November 14,
1932.
Dates on which
the results of
blood smear ex-
amination were
positive.
May
10, 11,
12, 1932.
May 11, 12, 1932.
May 11, 12, 1932.
May 11, 12, 13,
14, 1932.
Dates of sub-inocula-
tion into rabbits
(results all
negative)
April 22, August 12,
November 12, 1932 ;
February 15, 1933.
April 22, August 12,
November 12, 1932 ;
February 15, 1933.
April 22, August 12,
November 12, 1932 ;
February 15, 1933.
April 22, August 14,
November 14, 1932 ;
February 17, 1933.
Remarks.
Discontinued
December 20,
1933.
Discontinued
December 20,
1933.
Discontinued
December 20,
1933.
Discontinued
December 20,
1933.
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
229
FIG. 3.
230 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, III
A reference to column 4 in Table II and to Figs. 2 and 3 will show that,
while in every one of the artificially infected animals, the disease was allowed to be
fully established, in no instance did the infection proceed beyond 48 hours when
treatment was applied. The object of this was to make sure that recovery was
actually brought about as a result of drug intervention and not, as has frequently
been observed to be the case, by a process of spontaneous disappearance of the
parasites. However, what appeared to be the conclusive evidence of the efficacy
of Naganol was provided by the fact that in none of the treated animals were the
parasites encountered either on smear examination or as a result of sub-inoculation.
It will be observed (Table II) that two of the animals received a course of three
injections of Naganol at intervals of about three months. This procedure was
adopted in order to ensure the maximum possibility of success being obtained with
the drug treatment and in view of the uncertainty of the results to be expected from
the single-dose therapy, for, as already mentioned, the present trials had for their
object the development of a method of rendering cattle permanently free from surra,
quite irrespective of the quantity of the drug required for the attainment of this
object.
Buffalo No. 1897, which represented the pair to " Control " Buffalo No. 1849,
is of special interest in that it was kept under post-treatment observation for
more than three years and a half, without any evidence of relapse being exhi-
bited by it, for it is almost needless to stress the importance of the time factor in
assessing the curative value of a drug for bovine surra which is so liable to run a
chronic course, with the parasites unaccountably appearing in the circulating blood
after the animal concerned has, to all appearances, recovered from the disease.
It is noteworthy that, whether in the case of the treated animals or in the
case of the " controls," the results of sub-inoculation of blood into susceptible
ponies at the termination of the experiments were of an entirely negative order,
and this would seem to confirm the view expressed by certain workers (ante) that
in bovine surra recovery may occur spontaneously without the necessity of drug
intervention.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This investigation was undertaken to test the possibility of curing bovine surra
with certainty by means of Naganol. For this purpose, a total of fifteen animals,
comprising six bulls and nine buffaloes, were artificially infected with a laboratory
strain of Trypanosoma evansi and housed in fly-proof stables. Out of the fifteen
animals, four bulls and five buffaloes were treated intravenously with one to three
doses of Naganol at the rate of 5 grms. per 1,000 lb. body weight and the remaining
six animals were kept as " controls ". One treated and one untreated buffalo were
kept under observation for about three years and a half, while the observation
period in the case of the remaining animals ranged from thirty-nine days (in one
CURATIVE TREATMENT OF SURRA IN BOVINES
231
instance) to about one year and a half. During these periods, one " control " bull
and all the four " control" buffaloes showed the parasites at various intervals in
their circulating blood, as revealed by the results of blood smear examination or of
the sub-inoculation of their blood into rabbits, the maximum period up to which
evidence of infection was thus obtained having been about six months (Buffalo
No. 4) from the date of infective inoculation. The treated animals, however,
remained entirely free from infection after the initial sterilization of their blood
by drug injection. At the termination of the experiments, about 200 c.c. of blood
from each of the "controls," as well as from each of the treated animals, was sub¬
inoculated into susceptible equine subjects, but the results were of an entirely nega-
tive order, and from this one would conclude that in bovine surra spontaneous
recovery is the rule rather than the exception. Nevertheless, the fact that some of
the " controls " continued to show the parasites periodically for some length of time
after receiving the infective inoculation would appear to point to the advisability
of treating all actual or suspected cases of bovine surra with Naganol before they
are declared to be definitely free from the disease.
While a single dose of Naganol proved effective in at least seven out of the nine-
cases treated with this drug, it would seem very desirable, in view of the observa-
tions recorded by Lagas [ 1926 ], to repeat the dosage once, and, if possible, even
twice, at intervals of one month, particularly when the animal concerned is in-
tended for export to countries known to be free from surra.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It is my pleasant duty to express my thanks to Mr. F. Ware, F.R.C.V.S.,
Director, Imperial Institute of Veterinary Research, Muktesar, for providing me
with two fly-proof stables and other facilities and for the keen interest with which
he has watched the progress of this investigation. I wish to acknowledge the
assistance given to me by Messrs. P. K. Krishna Iyer, M. K. Srinivasan and J. A.
Idnani, who carried out the whole of the practical part of the work, while
employed successively as Veterinary Inspectors in the Protozoology Section of
the Institute. My thanks are due to Mr. Ahmed Baksh, Artist, for preparing
the illustrations.
REFERENCES
Baermann, G. (1922). Die Behandlung der Surra mit " Bayer 205 ". [The Treat-
ment of Surra with " Bayer 205 ".] Beihefte z. Arch. f. Schiffs-u. Trop. Hyg.
26, 73-123. [Abstr. in Trop. Vet. Bull. 11, 2-3 ; 1923.]
Bakker, S. (1925). Een en ander over Surra in den ambtskring Padang Sidempoean.
[Notes on Surra in Padang Sidempoean.] Ned.-Ind. Blanden v. Diergeneesk en
Dierenteelt, 37, 153-177. [Abstr. in Trop. Vet. Bull. 13, 76-78; 1925.]
—(1932).
Over de Surra en hare bestrijding in Nederlandsch-Indië.
[Surra and its Control in the Dutch East Indies.] Tijdschr, Diergmeesk, 59,
19-32. [Abstr. in Vet. Bull. 2, 544; 1932.]
D