NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
62
Investigation on Contagious Abortion in Goats
Vol. XVIII, Part II
secretions and placentae from aborted goats on cultural examination did not yield any organism
which could be incriminated for goat abortion. Drenching of infective placental emulsion to preg-
nant goats has caused in one of the goats the expulsion of premature kid from which an orga
nism suspected to be Vibrio foetus was isolated. Further study with this organism was not pursued
and the results of the investigation was summarized with the conclusion that more than one orga
nizm might be the cause of goat abortion on this farm.
In 1933, sera from 175 goats consisting of Toggenburg, Jamunapari, Barbari and local breeds
belonging to the Experimental and Research Goat Breeding Farm Etah, United Provinces, were
tested against Br. abortus and Br. meletensis antigens. With the exception of four goats which reacted
positively to Br. abortus antigen, the rest proved negative to both the antigens. In 1934, out of 54
sera from the same farm, only two reacted positively to Br. abortus. In 1935, out of 151 sera tested
two proved suspicious and the rest negative to Br. meletensis antigen.
The above review indicates that the previous investigations on caprine Brucellosis in India
were mainly limited to agglutination test of sera from either known aborted cases or from in-contact
animals on a farm where abortions had occurred. Bacteriological investigations carried out with
infective materials received from some of the outbreaks did not afford any definite evidence regard-
ing the isolation of Br. abortus from aborted goats' tissue or secretions.
PRESENT INVESTIGATION
The present investigations were carried out amongst goats of the Government Livestock Farm,
Hissar, in the East Punjab. The farm comprising about 46,000 acres of land is essentially a cattle
breeding farm, but other livestock including goats, sheep, horses, donkeys and camels are also bred
though on a limited scale. The animals live under ranch conditions which provide sufficient grazing.
Shelter from rains is provided during the monsoon period. Concentrates are fed to draft or working
animals or to those in milk or pregnancy, according to requirements.
As stated in the previous section of this paper the existence of Brucellosis amongst the goats
of this farm has been proved by aggultination test in 1929. During the subsequent years also the
disease had been occurring from time to time, but investigations carried out during these years with
the object of determining the type of Brucella or any other microorganism involved in these out-
breaks had failed to yield any conclusive results. The later efforts since 1937, therefore, were directed
towards controlling of abortion rates by complete segregation of aborters and taking hygienic
measures. Table I contains the incidence of abortion during 1937-1946.
TABLE I
The incidence of abortion during 1937-1946.
Year
1937—1938
1938—1939
1939—1940
1940—1941
1941—1942
1942—1943
1943—1944
1944—1945
1945—1946
Percentage of
abortion
13.1
0.9
0.9
7.6
2.25
15.1
23.7
not known
1.5
June, 1948.
P. R. NILAKANTAN AND P. G. PANDE.
63
During the year 1937, the incidence of abortion had reached fairly a high figure of 13.1 per cent.
and during the subsequent three years the hygienic control measures had brought about considerable
improvement. Since the year 1940, it has been the routine practice in the farm to blood test all
the goats for Brucellosis and remove the positive reactors separately, thus setting up two herds,
e.g. the Brucella-positive and the Brucella-negative herds. The position as revealed by agglutina-
tion test from the year 1940-1946 is given in Table II.
TABLE II.
Agglutination test for the year 1940-1946
Date of test
February 1940
April 1940
January 1941
............
July 1943
August 1943
February 1944
........
.
August 1944
August 1946
Number
tested
66
22
24
118
197
149
120
226
Number
positive
1
..
..
12
27
1
3
12
Percentage
positive
1.5
...
..
10.2
13.7
0.7
2.5
5.3
The two herds policy based on agglutination test seems is to have had the effect of lessening the
incidence of positive reactors on completion of the third testing of the herd in the year 1941. Two
years later, when the herd was augmented by fresh purchases the incidence of reactors had again
increased ; in 1945 no tests were made and the following years test showed some increase over the
previous year.
Brucella -negative herd
This herd comprized of 214 goats on the basis of agglutination test carried out by one of us (P. R.
N.) in August 1946. Of these, 11 were breeding bucks. Abortions had occurred in two goats 892
and 105 in the last week of July, i.e. about four to five weeks before visiting the farm. Blood serum of
these animals were found negative for Brucella infection. Vaginal washing from each were inoculated
subcutarneously in 1 c.c. dose to guinea pigs which were destroyed six weeks post injectio. Liver
and spleen materials were cultured on crystal violet liver infusion-agar plates and incubated aero-
bically as well as under 10 per cent Co 2 tension at 37°C for seven days. No growth of Brucella in
any of these were observed.
Another goat 242 aborted on 20th September 1946. Heart blood and stomach contents of a
three months old feotus expelled from the goat were sown in tryptose broth culture tubes which
were sent to Mukteswar for incubation and isolation of the organism. No pathogenic organism was
isolated from these materials. About 1 c.c. of a mixture of the stomach contents and heart blood
of the foetus was inoculated simultaneously to a g. pig, but no growth of Brucella was observed on
crystal violet-liver infusion-agar plates cultured with the spleen and liver materials of the g. pig
destroyed six weeks post injectic. Milk samples obtained from this goat were cream separated and
inoculated in 1.5 c.c. dose to two g. pigs. Another sample preserved in 1 per cent boric acid solution
was sent to Mukteswar for cultural examination. No organism of pathogenic significance was iso-
laled either from milk or the liver and spleen of the g. pigs. Blood serum of this goat was tested
on the fourth day and three weeks after abortion for Brucellosis and Salmonellosis, but the results
were negative for both.
June, 1948.
P. R. NILAKANTAN AND P. G. PANDE.
65
H 2 S to the same extent as the known Br. abortus strain. The results are shown in the following
Table.
TABLE III
Comparison of goats strain Brucella with Br. abortus strain.
Strains
Br. abortus (A1) . . . .
Br. meletensis (M1) . . . .
Br. suis (S1)
.
.
.
.
Br. isolated from goat 763 . .
Br. isolated from goat 918 . .
Br. isolated from goat 985 . .
1st
day
+++
—
+++
+++
+++
+++
2nd
day
+++
—
+++
+++
+++
+++
3rd
day
+
—
+++
+
+
+
4th
day
±
—
+++
±
±
±
5th
day
—
—
++
—
—
—
6th
day
—
—
+
—
—
—
7th
day
—
—
+
—
—
—
4. Growth on Huddleson's dye media. Forty eight hours' growth of the three known species of
Brucella and the goat Brucella strains were washed in 8 c.c. of normal saline solution and a loopful
of the emulsion from each tube was streaked on tryptose agar plates containing thionin and basic
fuchsin separately, as well as on plates without the dyes. The plates were then incubated for four
days at 37°C using 10 per cent Co 2 tension wherever necessary. Each day the plates were examined
for growths. The goat Brucella strains resembled Br. abortus in that they were inhibited by thionin
but grew- equally well on plates containing basic fuchsin and on those without the dyes. The results-
are tabulated below :
TABLE IV
Growth on the Huddlesons dye media of different Brucella strain
Strains
Br. abortus (A1)
Br. meletensis (Ml)
Br. suis (S1)
Br. isolated from goat 753
Br. isolated from goat 918
Br. isolated from goat 985
Growth on
tryptose
agar plate
without
dye
+++
+++
+++
+++
+++
+++
Growth on
tryptose
agar plate
with basic
fuchsin
+++
+++
—
+++
+++
+++
Growth on
tryptose
agar plate
with thionin
—
+++
+++
—
—
—
NOTE —The dilutions of the dyes in the media are basic fuchsin 1 :90,000 and thionin 1 :60,000.
5. Agglutinin-absorption test. Type specific (abortus and meletensis) sera were prepared by
absorbing species-specific sera of a titre of about 1 : 640; with heterogenous organisms. Standard
suspensions of the organisms were prepared in the same manner as that for the standard Brucella
antigens preparation and each of them put to agglutination test against various dilutions of the two
type specific-sera. Standard Br. abortus and Br. meletensis antigens were also put to test in the same
manner.
70
Infectivity by contact of Rinderpest Virus
Vol. XVIII, Part II
bulls and two goats or one hill bull and four goats. Ventilation is provided by a window and the
animals are let loose inside and all the animals feed and drink from the same utensils.
(iii) In a trevis—according to the method recently used by Idnani [1944]—so that the two animals
one infected and one healthy, face each other at a distance which can be varied at will, the apparatus
being covered with a thick tarpaulin so that the healthy one inhaled the expired air of the infected
one.
FIG. I. Line 'E' virus in hill-bull.
June, 1948
C.
SEETHARAMAN
71
FIG. 2. Line 'E' virus in goat.
EXPERIMENTS WITH GOAT-ADAPTED VIRUS
1. Shed contact
(a) Goal as donor. The goat virus is maintained by series of passages in goats, blood being taken
at the height of fever usually on the fourth day, and sub-inoculated into two other goats. In the
stall where the virus producers are accommodated, it was arranged that two healthy goats and one
hill bull should be kept and that these animals should remain in contact with not less than ten conse-
cutive batches of virus producers. The temperatures of the experimental animals were not taken
so as to avoid any chance of mechanical transmission. Three weeks later the two goats and the
bull were proved to be susceptible to rinderpest on being tested with goat virus and bull virus res-
pectively.
B2
72
Infectivity by contact of Rinderpest Virus
Vol. XVIII, Part II
FIG. 3. Line 'W' in bill-bull.
(b) Bull as donor. A healthy bull was inoculated with the goat-adapted virus and accommodated
in a stall of the shed described above. In the same stall were tied two goats and one hill bull so that
there was appreciable contact between them. Although the inoculated bull reacted, the in-contact
animals showed no rise in temperature and were later proved susceptible to rinderpest.
2. Chappar contact
In the next attempt a chappar was used.
(a) Goat as donor. In this experiment two goats inoculated with goat virus were placed in
company of two healthy goats and one hill bull. The inoculated goats died nine and ten days after
inoculation. The in-contact goats and bull showed no signs of infection. After three weeks they
were tested with line 'W and line 'E' virus respectively, and shown to be still susceptible.
(b) Bull as donor. A hill bull was inoculated with goat virus, and two goats and one. bull were
allowed to remain in contact for a period of three weeks. Although the inoculated bull showed a
thermal reaction, the in-contact animals showed no signs of infection and all proved susceptible to
rinderpest.
June, 1948
C.
SEETHARAMAN
73
FIG. 4. Line 'W' virus in goats.
3. Trevis contact
(a) Goat as donor. A goat was inoculated with goat virus. On the third, fourth , fifth, sixth and
seventh days after inoculation, a healthy goat was exposed for six hours at a distance of three feet
from it. Seven days after the last exposure the animal showed a thermal reaction (104.5°F.), and
when tested three weeks later, proved to be immune. In another experiment a goat was inoculated
with goat virus. On the third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh days after inoculation a hill bull was
exposed, for six hours and at three feet distance on each of these days. The goat died on the ninth
day, but the bull remained unaffected and was later proved susceptible to rinderpest.
(b) Bull as donor. Idnani [1944] has proved by the above method that transmission of rinderpest
does not take place between a bull inoculated with goat virus and a healthy bull. To find out if by
this method, a healthy goat will contract the disease from a bull inoculated with goat virus, a healthy
goat was exposed to an infected bull daily from the third to seventh days for a period of six hours at
a distance of three feet. The experimental animal remained unaffected and later proved susceptible.
74
Infectivity by contact of Rinderpest Virus
Vol. XVIII, Part II
EXPERIMENTS WITH VIRULENT BULL VIRUS
To ascertain the infectivity of a more virulent rinderpest virus by contact from goat to bull, from
goat to goat or from bull to goat, a set of experiments was carried out on the lines of work done with
goat virus.
1. Shed contact
(a) Goat as donor. Two goats were inoculated with line ' E ' virus. Two goats and one hill
bull were placed in contact in the same stall. Although the inoculated animals showed a thermal
reaction, the in-contact animals remained unaffected and three weeks later proved susceptible on
test.
(b) Bull as donor. Two goats and one bull were in contact in the same stall with one hill bull
inoculated with line ' E ' virus. The inoculated animal showed typical reaction of rinderpest and
died on the 11th day. The in-contact bull contracted the disease and later died of it, whereas the
in-contact goats showed no reaction and were susceptible to rinderpest on test.
2. Chappar contact
(a) Goat as donor. Two goats were inoculated with line ' E ' virus and kept with two healthy
goats and one hill bull. Both inoculated goats showed a thermal reaction and one of them died on
the 12th day. All the in-contact animals showed a thermal reaction from the seventh day. The
bull died of rinderpest on the 14th day, one goat died on the 11th day and the other goat
survived.
(b) Bull as donor. Two goats and one hill bull were allowed to remain in contact with one hill
bull inoculated with line ' E ' virus. The inoculated animal showed typical reactions of rinderpest
and died on the 11th day. But the in-contact goats did not contract the infection and later proved
susceptible on test with goat virus. The in-contact bull contracted the disease and died.
3. Trevis contact
(a) Goat as donor. A goat inoculated with line ' E ' virus was exposed to a healthy goat for
six hours daily from the third to seventh day, separated by a distance of three feet. In another
experiment under similar conditions a bull was exposed. The experimental goat contracted the dis-
ease and died. The bull showed no signs of infection and later proved susceptible on test.
(b) Bull as donor. Experiments done by Idnani have proved that transmission of rinderpest
by expired air from an infected bull to a healthy one is possible. To ascertain if a goat would contract
the infection under similar conditions, a bull was inoculated with line ' E ' virus and a goat exposed
to it from the third to seventh day daily for six hours, the distance between the animals being three
feet. The experimental animal remained unaffected and after three weeks proved susceptible to
rinderpest.
June, 1948
C.
SEETHARAMAN
75
In the tabular summary, the results of transmission experiments described in this paper using
the goat-adapted virus (W) and the virulent virus (E) are as follows :
TABLE I
Results of transmission experiments
Strain of virus
Line 'W' . . .
Line 'E'
.
.
Animal inoculated
Goat
.
.
.
.
Bull
.
.
.
.
Goat
.
.
.
.
Bull
.
.
.
.
Animal exposed
Goat
.
.
.
.
Bull
.
.
.
.
Goat
.
.
.
.
Bull
.
.
.
.
Goat . . . .
Bull
.
.
.
.
Goat . . . .
Bull
.
.
.
.
Results
Shed
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
+
Chappar
—
—
—
—
+
+
—
+
Trevis
+
—
—
—*
+
—
—
+ *
* Experiment after Idnani, (1944).
† Typical symptoms and death.
— No reaction Still susceptible to rinderpest.
DISCUSSION
Pfaff [1938] at Insein found evidence of the spread by contact of goat virus to buffaloes but not
to cattle. However, further spread from buffaloes so infected with goat virus was not seen. In
Pfaff's experiments ten Kpaukpu cattle were placed in a small loose box and five of them were given
goat virus. All the inoculated cattle reacted to the virus and they were kept in contact with the
tested cattle for 30 days. The latter showed no rise in temperature and later reacted typically to a
subcutaneous injection of goat virus. Pfaff observes that, although no controlled test was made,
it was noticed that there was evidence of the spread of the disease to uninoculated buffaloes by contact
with buffaloes inoculated with goat virus. The experiments of Cornell and Oonywongse [1941]
support the observations of Pfaff. Waddington [1945] has carried out some experiments to deter-
mine whether cattle vaccinated with goat virus are infective for other cattle. He observed that
during the reaction to the vaccination the nasal secretions were infective to susceptible cattle by
inoculation but not by natural exposure. He also found that the faeces of reacting animals are non¬
infective by inoculation. He therefore, expresses the view that the possibility of cattle undergoing
vaccination transmitting the disease to healthy susceptibles can be disregarded. Additional evidence
in support of this view is available from the experience of different observers in India [Shahi, 1933-34 ;
Naik, 1946].
Mohamed [1947], in his observations on the use of goat-adapted rinderpest virus in Egypt states
that the goat strain was capable of establishing itself in the field and thus create centres of permanent
infection. Mohamad's observations have been commented by Minnet and Seetharaman [1947].
From the vast experience accumulated in India, it is rather difficult to believe this. Crawford [1947]
from his experience in Ceylon observes that for some reason rinderpest, which had been unknown
in goats imported from India into Ceylon for some years was later found to be present in severe form
in many batches of imported goats, and that before long outbreaks of rinderpest appeared in Ceylon
amongst buffaloes and cattle kept in the vicinity of the imported goats. Crawford believes that the
76
Infectivity by contact of Rinderpest Virus
Vol. XVIII, Part II
use of goat virus may have been responsible for establishing a certain form of epizootic in goats and
that this in turn may have been responsible for the spread of a form of rinderpest in cattle. The
results of the transmission experiments described in this article, with both the virulent and the goat-
adapted rinderpest virus, suggest, however, that when epizootics occur in goats it is most unlikely
that they originate from the use of goat virus vaccine. It is well known that outbreaks of rinderpest
do occur in goats, but in the light of all the evidence one can only conclude that they are due to the
natural virus, probably from cattle. How frequently such outbreaks actually occur in sheep and
goats cannot be stated, because the diagnosis of rinderpest in sheep and goats, apart from laboratory
procedures, is rather difficult, the symptoms according to Orr [1945] being not unlike those seen in
other common diseases in these animals. The possibility of rinderpest virus from natural outbreaks
in sheep and goats producing rinderpest in cattle is one which requires investigation. The results
of the present experiment suggest that, in general the chances of transmission will depend on the nature
of the virus, its virulence and environmental conditions in which goats and cattle happen to be
accommodated. In any case, an early diagnosis of rinderpest in goats would be desirable, so that
opportunity for its dissemination may be impeded.
SUMMARY
1. The possibility of goats or cattle undergoing vaccination with the goat-modified rinderpest
virus spreading the infection to goats or cattle kept in the same shed has been tested. The experiments
have given negative results. Under ordinary field conditions, therefore, there appears to be no danger
of spread of the disease occurring through this cause.
2. Under artificial conditions of very close contact, as when healthy animals are compelled to
breathe the expired air of infected ones, transmission is possible. Important factors here are the
virulence of the virus and the degree of exposure in terms of time and distance between the animals.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
My thanks are due to Dr F. C. Minett for advice and for assistance in writing this paper.
REFERENCES
Bawa, H. S. (1940). Indian J. Vet. Sci., 10, 103-112
Cornell, R. L. and Oonywongse, R. (1941). Ind. J. Vet. Sci., 11, 1-9
Edwards, J. T. (1927). Trans. Far. East. Assoc. Trop. Med., 3, 699-706
Idnani, J. A. (1944). Indian J. Vet. Sci., 14, 216-220
Minett, F. C. and Seetharaman, C. (1947). Rev. d'Elévage et de Med. Vet. [In press]
Mohamed, R. A. (1947). Rev. d'Elévage et de Méd. Vét., 1, 63-65
Naik, R. N. (1946). Indian Vet. J., 23, 203-216
Orr, W. (1945). J. Comp. Path., 55, 185-200
Pfaff, G. (1938). Onder. J. Vet. Sci., 11, 263-330
Shahi, H. B. (1933-34). Ann. Rep. V.I.O., U.P., 12
Waddington, F. C. (1945). Vet. Rec. 57, 479-80
78
Nasal Carriers in Bovine
Pasteurellosis.
[Vol. XVIII, Part II
were used. Dry swabs did not give satisfactory results. In taking the swab, the wool plugged rubber
tube was passed into the nostril through the nares in the live animals and through the oesaphagus or
after splitting the head in the dead one, the plug pushed out, the mucous membrane rubbed, the wire
pushed back into the lumen of the rubber tube before withdrawing the whole outfit from the nose.
Swabs taken from animals at long distances from the laboratory were emulsified in broth at the
spot, material taken to the laboratory, incubated for six hours and then plated out. Swabs taken
from animals near the laboratory were directly streaked either on blood agar or on serum agar plates
which were previously partially dried in the incubator. The plates were then incubated for twenty-
four hours when they were searched for colonies like those of Past. septica viz., round, low convex
with smooth glistening surface and entire edge. Among other organisms often met with on plates
were staphylococci, gram-negative diplococci, haemolytic and non-haemolytic streptococci. Sus-
picious colonies were fished to blood agar slants for further examination. Any organisms which were
then found morphologically similar to Pasteurella were further studied for fermentation and other
characters. Tests were made in 1 per cent dextrose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, mannite and salicine,
also for indole and hydrogen-sulphide production, in litmus milk, for gelatin liquifaction, V. P. and
M. R. reactions. Cultures conforming to Pasteurella were retained for agglutination and patho-
genicity tests.
Results
In Table I are shown the reactions of 15 Pasteurella strains isolated from dead and living animals.
TABLE I
Reactions of different Pasteurella Strains
Ser.
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
Species of animals from which
isolated
Cow heifer
.
.
.
.
Buffalo heifer
.
.
.
.
Buffall cow
.
.
.
.
Buffalo bull
.
.
.
.
Buffalo heifer
.
.
.
.
Buffalo bull
.
.
.
.
Buffalo calf
.
.
.
.
Buffalo bull . . . .
Buffalo bull . . . .
Buffalo bull . . . .
Buffalo cow
.
.
.
.
Buffalo bull . . . .
Cow heifer
.
.
.
.
Buffalo calf
.
.
.
.
Buffalo heifer . . . .
Source
Abbattoir
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Live animal
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Sugar fermentation reactions
Dext-
rose
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
Lactose
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
Mal¬
tose
—
—
—
—
—
A
—
—
—
—
—
—
A
A
—
Suc¬
rose
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
Mann¬
ite
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
Sali-
cine
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
A = Acid, no gas.,— = Negative.