14
EFFICACY OF TINCTURE OF TOBACCO
[Vol. XX, Part 1,
for 30 minutes after which an ointment of 2 parts of sulphur, 1 of potassium car-
bonate and 8 of lard may be applied every day till the fifth day when the soap is
again applied and the treatment continued until every rabbit is either cured or
destroyed. Schwartz and Shook [1928] advocate a similar treatment with slight
modifications.
Tobacco is said to possess antiseptic properties when used locally and agriculturists
have been effectively spraying a watery infusion of tobacco to destroy vegetable
pests.
In this laboratory we made an attempt to see if tobacco will be of use in the
treatment of this condition in rabbits. A 1 in 10 tincture of tobacco leaves in
methylated spirit was prepared and painted on the affected areas twice a week in
17 suffering rabbits.
Scabs were taken for microscopical examination after scraping with the dull
edge of a knife until blood appeared. The smear examination, after clearing with
5 per cent NaOH, under microscope showed the presence of both the type of mites,
Sarcoptes scabiei cuniculi and Notoedres minor cuniculi.
OBSERVATIONS
Observation of the rabbits treated next morning after application revealed signs
of disintegration of the crusts and less of itching. On the second day, the crusts
showed falling off from all the. lesions and the animals showed an improvement in
their general outlook. They were more active and took interest in their food. On
the third day healthier skin was visible at places where crust had fallen off. A
smear examination of skin scrapings at this stage showed the presence of mites in
fewer numbers. The observations being encouraging after the very first application,
it was thought desirable to give another application on the lesions on the fourth day.
The improvement was much quicker on the fifth, sixth and seventh days and by the
end of the week nearly all the crusts had fallen down and there were signs of hair
growth. One more application was given and about 50 per cent of the rabbits
completely recovered with almost normal growth of hairs (Plate I, fig. 2) and resumed
their normal life. The examination of skin scrapings under the microscope showed
complete absence of mites in most of the rabbits and presence of a few in some.
Rabbits which were not cured after the third application required one or two more
applications for complete recovery.
During the course of treatment, the surroundings were disinfected with lysol
lotion and cleaned daily in order to remove the dead or dying mites which had fallen
off with the crusts from the suffering rabbits.
As a control, four affected rabbits, diagnosed microscopically to be suffering from
the same disease, were painted with plain methylated spirit. No change in the
condition of the lesions was observed proving that some active principles in tobacco
are responsible for the parasiticidal action of tobacco when dissolved in methylated
spirit and not the latter alone.
A watery infusion of tobacco (1 in 10) was also tried on another four suffering
rabbits. A course of 10 to 12 applications even was not sufficient to give complete
recovery; only a part of the scabs could fall off during this period. This shows