SEPTEMBER, 1948]
JOHN
B.
POLDING
187
the present evidence it would be folly to suggest, that a new cause of goat abortion has been discovered,
but it does seem desirable that when future cases of obscure epizootic goat abortion are being investi-
gated, organisms of the type described should be diligently sought. Further, in view of some of the
similarities between goat and buffalo abortion, it is not impossible that X strains might be encountered
in the latter species also,
SECTION IX. NON-SPECIFIC ABORTION
(Abortions not demonstrably caused by specific primary genital infection)
Cows
Although non-specific bovine abortion is infrequent in India, in almost every herd, occasional
abortions occur that are not due to obvious disease. The incidence of such casualties is from 0.5 per
cent to 2.0 per cent per annum, their appearance is sporadic and their cause is difficult to discover,
Many attribute these abortions to injuries received in fights, to careless driving through door-ways
and gates and to slipping in railway waggons or on ill-faced cow-house floors. Such explanations are
plausible, but the fact remains that a perfectly healthy cow is capable of sustaining a considerable
amount of rough handling (e.g., in casting) without aborting ; whilst, if the analogy be tenable, a
mare far advanced in pregnancy, may roll for hours in colic and fail to abort.
Plant-poisoning is another favourite retreat of the baffled diagnostician, but, whenever this
explanation has been proffered during the present work and where malpractice could be ruled out,
the writer has not known a single instance supported by scientifically acceptable proof, while, in the
cases where the fodder has been analyzed, the reports have always shown it to be harmless. How-
ever, in one occurrence of- several abortions in a jail herd in Bengal, malpractice was definitely sus-
pected, firstly because all abortions occurred outside the jail wall, in an easily accessible place, secondly
because most of the animals died during delivery, and thirdly because pregnant animals of the same
batch taken inside the jail failed to abort. The local authorities suggested that there was a plant
known in the district which if administered to cattle caused poisoning and abortion, whilst another
possibility is trauma caused by inserting sticks or other objects per vaginam. As, however, the cases
were apparently not very carefully examined at the time of the occurrence, the real explanation will
probably never be known. Whatever the cause, it is quite out of the ordinary for a majority of animals
to die from an apparently uncomplicated outbreak of abortion and this can be regarded as a unique
and irrelevant incident.
A far more genuine cause of abortion in which the genitalia are not primarily involved, is an
attack of a severe infection such as rinderpest, or foot-and-mouth disease, and although the sequel
of abortion is not so common in cows, as in buffaloes, sheep and goats, one clear case was encountered
during the present work. A combined attack of rinderpest and hæmorrhagic septicaemia appeared
to be the inciting stimulus, the abortions occurring nearly simultaneously in several Brucella-free
convalescents. There seems good reason to suppose therefore, that many otherwise inexplicable
abortions could be attributed to previous sickness or physical upset were the history of the case but
known.
Deficiencies of diet have often been suggested as causes of abortion and conjectures of this sort
again provide a smoke-screen for ignorance. It is a truism that abortions are commonest in scienti-
fically fed herds and rarest amongst half-starved village animals. This may perhaps be explained on
the grounds that scientifically fed animals are also almost always forced, whereas, the village cow
can adjust her output to changes of environment. Nevertheless, although several workers have
more or less associated a deficiency of various food factors with abortion, it has yet to be shown that,
in ordinary circumstances, the lack of any particular item of diet has caused wholesale abortion in
an otherwise healthy herd. That certain deficiencies, coupled with forcing, may predispose to infec-
tion is by no means questioned, but academic proportions such as these must be placed on a rather
more practical basis before they can be treated seriously in Indian field practice.
K