2
The figures for all the corps together for the last four years are given
below :—
Average percentage mortality
Number of surra
of all the Silladar
cases
Corps.
diagnosed.
Year ending 31st March 1909
Ditto
Ditto
Ditto
ditto
ditto
ditto
1910
1911
1912
...
...
...
...
22.3
18.6
13.3
10.7
431
333
254
130
Of the 130 cases of surra, 27 have been cured in the course of the ex-
periments on treatment at Sohawa.
The decreasing mortality of 10.7 per cent. is clue chiefly to the increasing
interest which is being taken in the camel corps particularly with regard to
avoidance of surra, but camels should never have been sent to Amritsar in the
surra season. The season has not been an unhealthy one, but 50 camels out
of the 130 surra cases were in the 51st Camel Corps.
It cannot be too strongly emphasised that the improved health of the
camels will not be maintained unless the measures against surra (avoidance of
fly-zones ; grazing in small groups when the latter is unavoidable ; detection of
surra by routine examinations of blood carried out at all seasons of the year ;
and precautions against purchasing surra) now being taken are continued with
the same vigour as before.
10. The curative-treatment of surra in camels.—Experiments have
resulted in a degree of success and altogether about 30 camels cast from the
Camel Corps on account of surra have been cured at Sohawa, and 17 of them
have already been returned to the corps from which they came originally.
These cures have been obtained by different methods, most of which methods
only give a minority of cures. One of them however has so far given 62
per cent. of cures, and another over 50 per cent.; it is perhaps safer to say that
we may now hope to cure about half the camels which are found with surra
in Camel Corps and which still retain fair condition ; and about one-third of
those which are emaciated.
When a first treatment fails, it is possible to apply a second, provided
the camel is in a condition to stand it, and this should increase the total per-
centage of cures considerably ; 5 out of the total of 30 camels cured in Sohawa
were cured by treatment applied after a first, and sometimes a second, had
failed to cure.
The best method of treatment consists of judicious combinations of the
following compounds: —
(1) Atoxyl or Soamin, (administered subcutaneously or intraven-
ously)
(2) Tartar emetic (injected intravenously)
(3) Either Sodium Arsenate given in drench, or Arsenious Acid in
solution given intravenously.
It has been found that a gradual and lengthy treatment is seldom attended by
accidents, but of course it is necessary that the camel submitted to it should be
in pretty good condition. A treatment of this kind is too much for thin ani-
mals, which die of exhaustion. As one endeavours to concentrate treatment,
so one begins to get a proportion of accidents such as nephritis and peritonitis.
In the shortest treatment, lasting only 9 days, one may get 35 per cent. of
cures and 30 per cent. of fatalities ; the degree of tolerance for big doses of
Arsenical compounds varies so greatly among camels. On the other hand, a
camel in wretched condition, if it possesses a fair tolerance to Arsenic, may
come safely through a short treatment when a longer one would certainly
wear it out.