25
THE COURSE THAT CAMEL SURRA RUNS IN THE BUFFALO.
62. This experiment is not yet completed.
ARE OLD CAMELS IMMUNE TO SURRA.
63. It is stated by many camelmen, that a certain number of camels
recover from surra, and are afterwards immune to the disease. In order to
ascertain whether old camels have any immunity, it was decided to inoculate
with surra any old camels that could be obtained from Camel Corps. It was
only possible to obtain one such camel this year. This was obtained, being no
longer fit for service, from the 52nd Corps.
According to the books of the Corps this camel on enlistment was five
years old & his total length of service was over 13 years. His age therefore was
over 18 years and he was in fair condition.
He was inoculated with blood (trypanosomes numerous) from a camel
suffering from surra. On the seventh day after inoculation trypanosomes
appeared in the circulation and with the exception of one day, were present
till he died eighteen days after inoculation. This old camel must have gone
through many a surra outbreak but on inoculation with surra he showed no
resistance whatever to the disease ; on the contrary he " wasted " very rapidly
and died very quickly from the disease.
Three one year old camels were inoculated with surra at the same time
as this old camel, at the commencement of the disease the paroxysms were fre-
quent, but gradully became less frequent and all three camels have improved in
condition, and at the present time would not be suspected of having surra. The
difference in the course that surra runs in old and young camels is very mark-
ed. The same difference was observed in the case of camel surra in ponies (see
paragraphs 55,56,57).
Conclusions.—The course that surra runs in camels depends upon the
age of camel when infected with surra.
THE OUTBREAK OF SURRA AT CHAKDARA.
64 The camels were kept in a perimeter camp close to the river near
the fort and about 1½ miles from the main camp. The camels were doing no
work and during the day were sent out 2—3 miles away to get what browsing
they could. In the camp Tabanidæ were swarming. The Commandant inform-
ed me that, being unable to get any bhoosa fit for the camels to eat, they were
given 8 lbs. of gram and whatever browsing they could get. Considering that
the browsing was extremely poor, the diet of the camels really consisted of 8 lbs.
of gram—an absolutely wrong diet for a ruminant. All the conditions for the
spread of surra existed in the camp. This was appreciated by the Commandant
and he requested that the Corps might be sent elsewhere, but, under the excep-
tional circumstances prevailing, it could not be moved.
At the time of inspection there were 453 camels in the camp, of these 81
were surra infected:—
73 were in poor condition.
68 were in fair ditto
231 were in good ditto
Prom the date of arrival (20th June) of the Corps at Chakdara up to
the 15th August 1915,411 cases of surra were detected.
65. Before sending a Camel Corps to any district where Tabanidæ are
known to be prevalent, every effort should be made to ascertain that no surra
exists in the Corps.
If this is not done a large number of camels are bound to become infect-
ed with surra.
Many of the camels infected with surra at Chakdara showed cerebral
symptoms.
ARE CAMELS SUFFERING FROM SURRA DANGEROUS TO PONIES.
66. There were 14 ponies in the same camp as the camels at Chakdara,
they were in excellent condition. I suggested to the Commandant that they