2
The presence of the Infugorian is. not continuous during the whole course
of the disease. At first it is usually found in small numbers in the blood, and
increases with greater or less rapidity, until having attained a maximum, it dis-
appears either gradually or suddenly to re-appear after an interval. The periods
during which it is present in, and absent from the blood, are marked by extreme
irregularity, varying from one to six days, but the latter number is very unusual.
The disease is invariably fatal; death being generally due to exhaustion, but
sometimes to concurrent complications. After death no specific lesion is pre-
sent, but as a rule there are small sub-pleural and sub-endocardial extravasa-
tions, together with enlargement of the liver and spleen, and if death takes place
during a paroxysm, the hæmatozoon will be found for a certain time in the
blood.
SECTION II.
NOMENCLATURE.
"According to Evans the name ' Surra' is used by the natives to denote
anything rotten, and is applied by them to a dry-rot, such as a withered leaf, and
to a moist rot, such as a putrid carcass. The name is thus a very comprehensive
one, and is applied loosely to all chronic ailments of a lowering character which
have not a specific designation. A native will speak of himself as Sur gia (gone
rotten), when he has felt for some time in ill-health and does not know what
he suffers from. The name ' Surra' is given to this disease among horses as a
distinctive designation, because a withering or falling off in condition is a marked
feature in its progress without any visible lesion post mortem to account for it."
SECTION III.
HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF SURRA.
Our first knowledge of this disease was communicated by *Evans, in a report
dated November 1880, to the Government of India. The malady, he designated
' Surra,' and defined it as a specific, parasitical, non-inflammatory, enzootic , blood
disease, characterized by fever, jaundice, petechiæ of the mucous membrane,
especially of the eye and vagina, dropsy, sometimes albumen in the urine,
great prostration of strength and rapid wasting, and with a specific parasite in
the blood during life ; but no characteristic structural organic lesions are found
after death. It may be transmitted by the subcutaneous injection of blood, and
by drinking fresh blood containing the live parasites, but is not contagious or
infectious in the ordinary way. The average duration of the disease is probably
less than two months, but reliable statistics are wanting upon that point. He
describes the invasion of the disease acquired in the ordinary way as that com-
mon to all low fevers. In a small majority of cases the sub-maxillary gland
may be enlarged and tender ; in a large proportion of cases the legs are swollen
and œdematous, later a similar swelling is found between the fore legs of mares,
or at the sheath of horses, and the animal is dropsical ; there is great thirst, and
the urine is high coloured.
The conjunctival membranes become decidedly yellow in colour, with claret
coloured spots on the membranæ nictitantes. In the case of a mare, the mu-
cous membranes of the vagina are decidedly yellow, with petechiæ even more
marked than in the eye. The duration of the disease is a difficult matter to
settle, and depends on the constitution of the animal ; weak animals succumb
sooner. The progress of the disease is variable; the symptoms may some-
times subside and again return worse than before ; the most constant and in-
variable symptoms in the progress of the disease is the wasting away of the
flesh, and this is the more remarkable, seeing how much and with what good
appetite the patient eats. The wasting goes on more rapidly in some cases
than in others. The records of the 4th Panjab Cavalry show an average
duration of 43 days after the admission on the sick list ; whether they die early
or late, they are generally reduced in condition to mere living skeletons.
* Report on Surra by Inspecting Veterinary Surgeon G. Evans, M.D., published by the
Panjab Government, Military Department, No. 439—4467, 3rd December 1880.