246
An outbreak of Goat-Pox in Hissar District
[XVII
Chadda [1942-1943] however, obtained unexpectedly severe-reactions in one of his experiments and
believed this to be due to the serum not being sufficiently protective.
Immunity test
Ten female goats, obtained from a goat-pox-free area, were successfully vaccinated with glyceri-
nated virus on the 22nd June 1945. These were kept for the purpose of immunity testing. Un-
fortunately, at this time, no goats could be vaccinated with serum-sensitized virus due to lack of
facilities. Nearly six months later, eight of these goats, together with four kids four months old
and born after the outbreak subsided, acting a controls, were scarified on the abdomen with a saline
suspension of goat-pox virus obtained from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar.
Marked local and thermal reaction (rise of 2°F.) was noticed on the fifth day in the vaccinated as
well as in control animals. On the tenth day the temperature returned to normal, and the local
reactions subsided after 20 days. The results were thus again inconclusive. Apparently, the Mukte-
swar virus was not very virulent, as none of the animals was severely affected. The present experi-
ments, as well as those of other workers in India, indicate the need for further work on the virulence
and potency of goat-pox virus in India, its relation to that of sheep-pox and the methods of com-
bating the disease in the field.
SUMMARY
An outbreak of goat-pox is described in the dairy flock of goats at the Government Livestock
Farm. The disease spread from animals experimentally infected with virus obtained from an out-
break in Hissar district. Mortality was low, but there was considerable reduction in milk yield as
the result of the disease. Attempts to produce the disease in a calf and a buffalo calf were unsuccess-
ful. It was, however, possible to produce local lesions in lambs with the goat-pox virus. Groups
of goats vaccinated with serum-sensitized or with glycerinated virus, along with non-vaccinated
controls were exposed to natural infection immediately after vaccination, but neither the controls
nor the vaccinated ones developed the disease. An immunity test, carried out on another group of
goats six months after vaccination, with glycerinated virus, was also inconclusive, because both
vaccinated and control goats reacted with goat-pox virus obtained from the Indian Veterinary Re-
search Institute, Mukteswar.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to Rai Bahadur P. N. Nanda, then Superintendent of the Government Live-
stock Farm, Hissar, for his interest in the work and Dr F. C. Minett, for his valuable guidance in
compiling the paper.
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