NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
TREATMENT OF BOVINE NASAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS
335
105.8° F. and it was dull and unable to feed or move. It died nearly
36 hours later. Post-mortem examination revealed a fairly large
number of dead schistosomes in the veins of the nasal mucous
membrane, in the clot of blood in the heart cavities and in the pul-
monary arteries. The endocardium was inflamed in places and there
was effusion in the pericardial sac. The mucous membrane of the
abomasm and the small intestines was slightly congested in small
patches in about 3 or 4 places.
Group B.—This group contained four animals which were treated with Anti¬
mosan, kindly supplied in the form of a 6.3 per cent solution by Messrs. Havero
Trading Co., Ltd.
Bullock No. 5.—Weight 260 lbs. Age 12 years. Duration of disease 2
years. It had mild lesions in the nose, with intense snoring. There
were, on an average, 42 ova in 0.1 c.c. of the nasal discharge. It
was injected with 5 c.c. of the solution (or 2 c.c. per 100 lbs. body-
weight) on alternate days till four injections were given. In all
20 c.c. (or roughly 18 grains of antimosan) were given. Dark and
dead ova began to appear in the nasal discharge from the 4th day
onwards. In the course of a fortnight, the symptoms abated and
at the end of a month, ova disappeared. On the fifth week, ova
reappeared though the animal looked apparently cured. It was
then injected with antimony tartarate at 2 grains per 100 lbs. body-
weight on alternate days until three injections were given. The
ova disappeared and lesions healed completely in the course of three
weeks. At the end of the period of observation, the animal was
perfectly healthy and weighed 398 lbs.
Bullock No. 6.—Weight 280 lbs. Age 6 years. Duration of disease 2 years.
This animal had large lesions and intense snoring. The average
number of ova was 7 in 0.1 c.c. of the nasal discharge. It was
injected with 12.5 c.c. (or 5 c.c. per 100 lbs. body-weight) twice
a week, till four injections were given. In all, it received 50 c.c.
(or roughly 48 grains) of the drug in two weeks. From the fifth day,
dark and dead ova began to appear and all the symptoms disappeared
at the end of the period of observation. The animal weighed 397 lbs.
Bull No. 7.—Weight 252 lbs. Age 4 years. Duration of disease one year.
This animal showed small lesions with very little snoring. There
were, on an average, 16 ova in 0.1 c.c. of the nasal discharge. It was
injected with 18.75 c.c. (or 7 c.c. per 100 lbs. body-weight) weekly
till two doses were given. In all it received 37.5 c.c. (or 36 grains
of antimosan in two weeks). Four days after the first injection,
dark and dead ova commenced to appear and all ova disappeared,
336
THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, IV
along with other symptoms, by the end of four weeks. Ova began
to re-appear 18 weeks after the first injection. The animal was
again treated with the same dose of antimosan which caused them
to disappear in about ten days. The animal appeared clinically
cured.
On 12th August 1935, this animal was selected to try the effect of
progressively larger doses of tartar emetic. It was first given 3.75
grains of that drug per 100 lbs. body-weight in one dose. Three days
later, it was given 5.6 gains per 100 lbs. body-weight and within 12
hours the animal died. This animal showed a rise in temperature to
103°F. within 24 hours after the first injection, was dull and off-feed
during that period. On post-mortem examination, no schistosomes
were found, but endo-carditis and congestion of the intestinal mucous
membrane were noticed. It would appear, therefore, that a dose of
3.75 grains per 100 lbs. body-weight of the drug may produce a
reaction in cattle and is unsafe to repeat it during the period of
reaction.
Heifer No. 11.—Weight 196 lbs. Age 3 years. Duration of disease 1½
years. This animal was first treated with Trypaflavin and since no
improvement was noticed, it was given Antimosan from the 25th
April 1935. It showed large lesions and snoring was pronounced.
Ten ova on an average were seen in 0.1 c.c. of the discharge. It
was injected with 5 c.c. of the drug (or 2½ c.c. per 100 lbs. body¬
weight) every alternate day till three doses were given. No im-
provement was noticed during the four weeks after treatment. It
was again injected in the first week of June, with 15 c.c. (or 7½ c.c.
per 100 lbs. body-weight) every alternate day till three doses were
given. At the end of four weeks the symptoms abated, and ova
disappeared. There was no relapse till the 17th August 1935 when
the period of observation terminated. The animal weighed 253 lbs.
at the end of the experiments. It received in all, 15 c.c. or nearly
14 grains of Antimosan in the first instance and 45 c.c. or about
42 grains in the second course.
Group C.—This group consisted of three animals which were treated with
Trypaflavin.
Bullock No. 8.—Weight 252 lbs. Age 7 years. Duration of disease 3 years.
It showed about 10 ova on an average in 0.1 c.c. of nasal discharge.
It was injected intravenously with 3 grains of Trypaflavin in
10 c.c. of water daily for 9 days. No improvement was noticeable
during a period of 5 weeks and ova continued to appear. It is in-
teresting to note that this animal developed acute hepatitis during
TREATMENT OF BOVINE NASAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS
337
the course of treatment and became weak and emaciated. On the
26th April it was injected with 5 grains of tartar emetic. It reacted
severely after this injection. The animal was dull, off-feed, and
unsteady in gait though the temperature was normal. This condition
lasted for five days. A week later, it was again injected with the
same dose of tartar emetic.
Even this dose caused a reaction lasting for four days. Within
three weeks after the last injection the ulcers in the nose and ova
in the nasal discharge disappeared and the animal was found cured
at the close of the experiments. Its weight was then found to be
325 lbs.
Bullock No. 9.—Weight 210 lbs. Age 4 years. Duration of disease 2 years.
It showed small but numerous lesions on the nasal mucous mem-
brane and snoring was not pronounced. The average number of
ova in 0.1 c.c. of nasal discharge was 84. This animal was injected
intravenously with 10 grains of Trypaflavin in 20 c.c. of water on
the 18th of March, followed by one gram of the drug in a pint of
water administered orally on the 20th, 22nd and 27th March. There
was no improvement nor disappearance of ova and it suffered from
hepatitis as in the previous instance. After observation for a period
of seven weeks it was injected with antimony tartarate at 2½ grains
per 100 lbs. body-weight on the 9th, 14th and 16th May. On the
13th May, dead and disintegrated ova began to appear and ova
disappeared completely from the 17th May onwards. No lesions
were to be seen in the nose from the 30th May. The animal was
found to be cured at the end of the period of observation and weighed
338 lbs.
Heifer No. 10.—Weight 168 lbs. Age 2 years. Duration of disease 9
months. This animal had large lesions and intense snoring. There
were on an average 9 ova in 0.1 c.c. of the nasal discharge. It was
treated with one gram of Trypaflavin in a pint of water given as a
drench daily till 5 doses were given. No improvement was notice-
able during a period of 4 weeks. It did not develop hepatitis like
the previous two, which received the drug intravenously. On the
26th April it was given an intravenous injection of antimony tar-
tarate at 3 grains per 100 lbs. body-weight and this dose was repeated
on the 29th April and again on the 1st May. The animal did not
react to this dose and all the symptoms abated in about a fortnight
later. This animal was found free from the disease and weighed
237 lbs. at the close of the experiments.
F
340 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, IV
It is interesting to note that Parthasarathi [ 1921 ] considered that the proper
dose of the drug should be such as to cause a reaction in the animal and the symp-
toms he describes are almost the same as those met with here. In the absence
of reaction to a certain dose, he advocated the repetition of an increased dose,
the very next day until a reaction was set up. He said that this reacting dose,
which in his opinion was the dose of maximum therapeutic efficiency could be
repeated at intervals of two to seven days according to the degree of severity
of the disease. It is evident from this that Parthasarathi treated his cases with
sub-lethal doses of tartar emetic. It is unfortunate that neither he, nor other
workers who adopted his method of treatment reported cases of mortality, if
any, during treatment, perhaps the deaths that occurred were not brought to
their notice or ascribed to some other cause. It seems likely that some deaths
would have occurred as a result of pushing sub-lethal doses without allowing
sufficient time for excretion of the drug from the system. Krishnamurthi [ 1922 ],
Mahadevan [ 1923 ] and Das [ 1929 ] are the only workers who have recorded
deaths in animals treated with tartar emetic. Obviously, therefore, reacting
doses and their repetition at short intervals are not safe in the treatment of cattle
suffering from this complaint.
The action of the drug on schistosomes and their ova
Faust and Meleney [ 1924 ] ascertained how quickly schistosomes are killed
in vitro in various concentrations of sodium-antimony-tartarate. They found,
that in a dilution of 1 to 42,000 the worms died in one hour. They, therefore,
opined that if this concentration is exceeded in the body, for even a short space
of time after the administration of the drug, and if such a dose is repeated daily
or on alternate days, the worms would soon be killed. Their work gives us a clue
on which to base the lowest daily dose of tartar emetic sufficient to kill the worms
without causing harm to the animal treated.
In our experiments, the lowest dose administered was 1.5 grains per 100 lbs.
body-weight, which represents a dilution of 1 to 32,000 in the blood of an animal
at the time of injection. This concentration is more than the limit laid down
by Faust and Meleney. The repetition of this dose daily, for a reasonable length
of time, should, therefore, kill the worms. It was found in experimental animal
No. 1 that six such daily injections cured the animal and this was verified at
autopsy nearly four and a half months after treatment. The drug has action
on the ova of schistosomes in the tissue, which is borne out by the fact, that in
about four or five days after the commencement of treatment, dark and dead
ova appeared. Hence it would seem that successful treatment of a case of
schistosomiasis does not so much depend on the total amount of the drug
administered as on the maintenance of a certain amount of concentration of the
drug in the blood at a constant level by repeated injections of suitable doses,
342 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, IV
to each animal while conducting mass treatment against bovine nasal schisto-
somiasis in Chittoor district, and that he found many of the animals reacting to
this dose possibly because a large majority of cattle are small in size in that dis-
trict. Some of the ryots worked their animals in the plough soon after injections
of tartar emetic, and to their dismay some of them dropped down dead while
working. In such animals evidently there was a reaction set up and they died
of its effects aggravated by work. The ryots, in most villages, being poor, do not
possess more than one pair of bullocks; necessarily they cannot afford to rest
their animals since they have none others to do the work. If, therefore, such
disasters were to be anticipated, the ryots even with persuasion, for obvious
reasons, will not subject their animals to treatment. Therefore, one has to employ
such doses as would not cause reaction ; in other words, the doses employed
must be small so as to be given repeatedly with impunity, even if the animals are
worked immediately during treatment.
It is seen from the experiments done here that a daily dose of 1.5 grains per 100
lbs. body-weight for six days is not only effective but also reduces the length of
the course of treatment when compared with any other method. Further, there
is no possibility of producing a reaction with such a small dose, thus avoiding the
danger of the animal collapsing and dying.
Discussion on the treatment with Antimosan
Antimosan is a synthetic antimony preparation recommended by the makers
for use in the treatment of schistosomiasis in cattle. The drug is available in
the form of 6.3 per cent solution and the dose recommended is 40 c.c. for an animal
weighing 450 lbs. or 8.8 c.c. per 100 lbs. body-weight. This dose, they say, should
be repeated every second or third day. 100 c.c. of this drug contains only 12.5
grains of antimony : hence in the dose recommended there are only 5 grains of
it or roughly 1.2 grains per 100 lbs. body-weight. It is interesting, therefore,
to note that this dose of antimony is nearly equal to that of antimony tartarate
which the present writers found to be safe and efficacious, for daily injections,
for six days.
The makers of antimosan quote Roy Chowdhury [ 1932 ] regarding the use-
fulness of the drug in the treatment of bovine nasal schistosomiasis. That worker
was supplied with the powder form of the drug. It would appear that he did
not compute the dose of the drug per unit of body-weight, but gave varying doses,
which, in some cases were increased progressively with an interval of a week
between two doses. Hence, it is not possible to compare his results with those
obtained by the present writers. It will be seen that the doses he gave were smaller
and spaced at longer intervals than those recommended by the makers of the
drug. The present writers found that in an animal treated with small doses of
Antimosan, the symptoms abated in about 4 weeks. The animal looked clini-
cally cured, but this was not the case, as ova continued to appear. Hence, the
TREATMENT OF BOVINE NASAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS
343
results of Roy Chowdhury [ 1932 ] cannot be said to be conclusive in as much as
the animals he treated with Antimosan were not under his observation for a
sufficiently long time, nor was it possible for him then, to appreciate the results
of treatment by laboratory methods as can now be done, since the etiology of the
disease is known. Roy Chowdhury opines that recently infected animals require
only one dose for a cure. It is doubtful, if, in the treatment of this disease, the
administration of a single large dose of any drug will effect a cure and the
reasons are obvious. Another interesting observation is that recovery was
definite in those animals which received, at short intervals, doses almost equal
to those recommended by the makers of the drug. It would appear, therefore,
that the proper dose of the drug is the one that has been recommended by the
makers repeated at intervals of 2 or 3 days until about 4 injections are given.
Discussion on the Treatment of Trypaflavin
Trypaflavin is the same as Acriflavin. This drug was tried, because Fisher
[ 1934 ] reported, that he obtained with Acriflavin, some amount of success in the
treatment of intestinal schistosomiasis in the human being. He gave the drug
orally and no toxic manifestations seem to have been developed.
Trypaflavin was found to be useless in the treatment of bovine nasal schisto-
somiasis and on the other hand, it was noticed that the drug when given intra-
venously for some time, has harmful effects on the liver.
Cost of treatment with tartar emetic and Antimosan
The cost of a pound of tartar emetic is about Rs. 1-8-0 and the cost of the
full course of 6 injections for an animal weighing 450 lbs. at 1.5 grains per 100
lbs. body-weight is 1.5 pies. This drug, therefore, is so cheap that nearly 200
animals of average weight may be treated at a cost of Rs. 1-8-0, when compared
with that of Antimosan which is about Rs. 2-8-0 for one animal for a course of
treatment recommended by the makers.
SUMMARY
1. Antimonium tartaratum, Antimosan and Trypaflavin were given a trial
in treating cases of bovine nasal schistosomiasis.
2. Trypaflavin was found to be useless. Antimosan appears to be safe and
effective if given according to the instructions of the makers, but expensive.
3. Antimonium tartaratum is effective and cheap. The dose recommended
is 1.5 grains for every 100 lbs. body-weight of the animal repeated daily for six
days, or 2.5 grains every alternate day.
4. Any dose exceeding 3.5 grains per 100 lbs. body-weight seems to be
dangerous particularly, if repeated.
344 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VI, IV
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This piece of work was done with a grant kindly sanctioned by the Madras
Government at the request of Mr. P. T. Saunders, O.B.E., M.R.C.V.S., the Direc-
tor of Veterinary Services, Madras, to whom we are grateful. Our thanks are due
to Mr. T. J. Hurley, M.R.C.V.S., D.V.S.M., who took a keen interest in the work.
We appreciate the help rendered by Mr. A. Ramachandra Aiyar, District Veteri-
nary Officer, Madanapalle and his assistant Mr. P. K. Rangesa Rao in selecting
and sending diseased bovines required for the work.
REFERENCES
Bhuvarahachari, K. S. (1922). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 12, 29.
Clark, A. J. (1933). Applied Pharmacology. J. & A. Churchill, London.
Das, P. N. (1928). Memoirs of the Dept. of Agri. in India, Vet. Ser., No. 4.
Datta, S. C. A. (1932). Ind. Jour. of Vet. Sc. and Anim. Husb., 2, 131-140.
Doraiswamy Ayyar (1923). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 23, 10.
Doraiswamy, K. P. (1934). Ind. Vet. Jour., 9, No. 1.
Edwards, J. T. (1928). Memoirs of the Dept. of Agri. in India, Vet. Ser., No. 1.
—————————— Ibid, No. 4.
Faust, E. C. and Meleney, H. E. (1924). Amer. J. of Hyg., No. 3.
Fisher, A. C. (1934). Helminthological Abstracts, 3, 39.
Holmes (1921). Quoted by Hornby, Vety. Jour., 77, 202-206.
Hornby. H. E. (1919) Ibid, 75, 92.
—————— (1921). Jour. of comp. Path & Therap., 34, 224.
Iyengar, M. D. (1934). Indian Vet. Jour., 9, 37-41.
Jeysing Raj (1910). Ibid, 1, 419.
Kadambhavana Sundaram (1922). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 17, 9-12.
Krishnamurti Aiyar, V. (1922). Ibid, No. 15, 2-7.
—————————— (1925). Memoirs of Dept. of Agri. in India, Vet. Ser., No. 3.
Krishna Iyer, P. R. & Sarwar, S. M. (1935). Ind. Jour. of Vet. Sc. & Anim. Husb.,
5, 166.
Mahadeva Ayyar, A. S. (1922). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 17, 21.
Malkani, P. G. (1932). Vet. Rec., 9th April.
————— (1933). Indian Vet. Jour., 9, 257-277.
Oxspring, G. E. (1930). Jour. of Army Vet. Corps, 2, 179-182.
Parthasarathi, P. A. (1921). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 10, 2-6.
———————
(1923). Ibid, No. 19, 2-7.
Pillai, K. S. (1934). Ind. Vet. Jour., 10, 303.
Ramaswami Ayyar, A. (1933). Private Communications.
———————— P. V. (1923). Madras Vet. Jour. No. 18 14.
Ramachandran M. (1922). Ibid, No. 13, 29.
TREATMENT OF BOVINE NASAL SCHISTOSOMIASIS
345
Rao, M. A. N. (1932). Indian Jour. of Vet. Sc. and Anim. Husb., 3, 29-38.
————— (1933). Ibid, 3, 160-162.
————— (1934). Ibid, 4, 1-28.
Richardson, V. F. (1928). Tr. of Roy Soc. Trop. Med. & Hyg., 22, 143.
Roy Chowdhury, G. N. (1932). Ind. Vet. Jour., 8, 199-201.
Rozario, P. G. (1922). Ibid, No. 16, 20.
Samirasimha Rao, K. (1923). Madras Vet. Jour., No. 22, 11-13.
Subramanian, P. (1919). Ibid, No. 3, 12.
Theagaraj, P. (1919). Ibid, 10.
ON THE IDENTITY OF THE NEMATODE WORM
RECOVERED FROM HUMP SORE OF CATTLE IN INDIA
BY
P. G. PANDE, M.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.,
Veterinary Investigation Officer, Assam.
[Received for publication on 30th June 1936.]
(With Plates XXII & XXIII)
INTRODUCTION
In a preliminary report [1935] by the writer on the etiology of this disease
it was stated that the adult nematodes recovered from the lesions bore certain
resemblance to the members of the sub-family SETARINAE of the family
FILARIDAE. The exact identity of the worm at that time was attended with
some difficulty, since by the appearance of the worm and the nature of the lesion
it sets up, it appeared to be a new parasite for which no reference could be
found in older text-books on helminthology. During the earlier investigation of
this disease when its etiology was known in 1933, the writer was informed by the
Director, Imperial Institute of Veterinary Research, Muktesar, that the nema-
tode larvae had also been seen in an identical affection of cattle called " Cascado "
in the Dutch East Indies. No fuller reference on " Cascado " could be available
until Datta in January, 1935, at the Indian Science Congress at Calcutta stated
that his studies on the histopathology of hump sore had led him to conclude that
this disease of Indian cattle was similar to " Cascado " of cattle in the Dutch
East Indies, caused by STEPHANOFILARIA DEDOESI (Bubberman, C. and Krane¬
veld, F. C). Few specimens were therefore received through the courtesy of
Dr. F. L. Huber, Director, State Veterinary Institute, Buitenzorg, Java. On
the result of a comparative study of the parasites of hump sore and " Cascado "
the writer was able to ascertain that the parasite of hump sore belonged to the
genus STEPHANOFILARIA, but that in certain morphological details it differed
from STEPHANOFILARIA DEDOESI. In June, 1934, Chitwood described STEPHANO-
FILARIA STILESI, a new species from the skin of cattle in the United States. On
the basis of Chitwood's description of STEPHANIFILARIA STSLESI, many points
of difference have been noticed between this worm and that recovered from
hump sore.
In view of these observations it was decided to create a new species STEPHA-
--------- ASSAMENSIS for the parasite of the Indian disease, by virtue of its
being discovered for the first time in Assam. In the following pages it is pro-
posed to give an account of the new species, and then comparing it with two other
known species, to indicate certain anatomical differences which led to its specific
diagnosis.
( 346 )
Ind. Jour. Vety. Sci. & Anim. Husb., Vol. VI, Pt. IV.
PLATE XXII
FIG. 1, 400 ×
FIG. 2
400 ×
FIG. 1. The anterior portion of the ♀ worm showing month
opening, vulvar opening, vagina, tubular oesophagus
and the nerve ganglia.
FIG. 2. The posterior portion of the ♂ worm showing the
slightly curved extremity, anal opening, spicules and
the gubernaculum.