9
17. After the treatment for surra.—When a treatment fails to cure,
relapses usually occur between 2 and 7 weeks, but one or two cases did not
relapse until 88 or 89 days after the last dose. The camels require some in-
spection therefore during the 3 months following treatment, and should be
kept within reach (and under reasonable segregation if the season is between 15th
March and 15th November) until then. The camelman should watch for and
report any sign of fever which should then lead to examination of the blood
for trypanosomes.
Cases which relapse may be treated again with an excellent chance
of cure, provided the camel is in a fit state to stand a second treatment.
If the second treatment fails, a third can be applied ; I have had cures on
the third trial.
Camels in good hump before " 264 treatment" soon recover any slight
loss of condition caused by the treatment; those in medium condition before
" 668 treatment," take longer, as a rule. Emaciated camels cured by " 178
treatment," will take several months to get into working condition. After
treatment no camel should be worked for a minimum period of one month,
and generally longer, according to the case.
18. Further remarks.—I have only treated one cow-camel, but in spite
of the relatively light weight of dachis, I recommend, at present, the same
dose as for males. Experience may show whether it should be decreased or
not.
I have no data as to dosage for camels under i years of age. The
difference between the dosage which cures and that which kills is not big
enough to justify fixing the doses by guess work. It must bo left to experi-
ence. The chances of spontaneous recovery are pretty good in bachas of 1
or 2 years of age in breeding herds as they are not required to work, and it
would not always be a good plan in a breeding herd to apply a risky treatment
to a dachi or bacha which had passed the acute stage of the disease.
During the treatment for surra, the camels may be kept together in
one herd, provided they are not placed in it until trypanosomes have gone from
the blood. In practice (as apart from experiment) microscopic examination
of blood is only necessary for a few days, viz., to find out when to give the
first close, and to note when the trypanosomes have dispersed (generally within
48 hours of first dose). Trypanosomes do not re-appear during treatment when
the instructions given are carried out.
I think it is unnecessary to burn the carcases of any camels which
die from poisoning during treatment.
The number of camels used in experiments on which the above re-
commendations for treatment are based, was, of course, limited, and it is
desirable that a clear written history of the treatment of every animal be kept
so that the results may be scrutinised and faults corrected.
19. A camel which is cured of surra by drugs is not immune to a
second infection.—A camel (No. 264) which, subsequent to treatment by the
" 264" method, had gone 498 days under daily blood-examination without
relapse, and whose blood had also been found innocuous to a guincapig, was
inoculated with 15 c.c. blood, containing numerous trypanosomes, obtained
direct from the jugular vein of a camel suffering from surra. A control
inoculation was also made into a guineapig.
After an incubation period of 4 day, trypanosomes appeared in the
blood of the camel No. 264 and rapidly increased, until on the 3rd day they
were swarming.
The control guineapig also got the disease.
A camel cured of surra by drugs is therefore not immune if subjected to
a fresh infection.