10
20. Mange.—For several consecutive cold weathers I have allowed
mange to spread among my camels in Sohawa so as to gain actual experience
in the management of out-breaks. The best treatment of the disease is little
different from that employed by the best camelmen. Everyone with any
veterinary knowledge knows that the disease is caused by a mite (sarcoptes
cameli) and is contagious, but there are certain practical matters regarding
camel-mange which might be more widely known.
The first point is that, in Northern India, camel-mange is particularly a
cold-weather disease, most liable to make its appearance in October and Novem-
ber and to become most active in January. In March and April there is a
marked decline in the activity of the casual mites and, consequently, a tendency
to recovery; if it be neglected at this stage, it may continue through the
hot weather, but the amount of irritation it causes then is, as compared with
that shown in the cold weather, slight.
A camel with mange was kept with four others with healthy skins from
29th March to 30th July ; the disease only spread to one of the latter, and,
even then, mildly only. This illustrates the comparative inactivity of the
disease in the hot weather; I think the heat itself is the chief inhibiting influ-
ence, though no doubt the green feed and change of coat in March and April
also favour the cure of mangey camels.
As a rule, the first signs of mange are found in the skin of the flanks,
groin, rump and arm-pits, and it spreads next to the face and head, neck,
sides, belly, quarters, legs and feet. The back and hump are affected last of
all. In October and November" the extension of the disease over the body may
not be very rapid, but the rain-storms of the cold weather, falling at or about
Christmas, are immediately followed by greatly increased activity of the dis-
ease. A camel appearing slightly mangey before a fall of rain, may have
patches all over his body in three days, and the disease spreads very rapidly
from one animal to another at this time.
21. Preventive measures.—It is necessary to prevent any camel from
carrying the parasite over in a more or less inactive condition in the skin from
one cold weather to another. The oiling of all camels as carried out by camel-
owners in the North Punjab after the spring clipping is therefore an excellent
practice, and one to be recommended.
The gear of one camel is rarely used on another camel; and the first
lesions of mange in the camel never begin under the seat of the saddle. I do
not think therefore that the disease is spread much from one camel to another
by the gear, in practice; but the gear may assist its spread on the body of the
same camel.
Therefore it is a sound routine to remove all the stuffing of the palan
in the hot weather and replace it with new stuffing ; and to sun-dry the cover-
ings (chat and kammal) of the palan.
This also prevents the palan from getting heavy with old compressed
stuffing and would, if generally adopted, perhaps obviate the necessity of keep-
ing a special palan in case of mobilisation,—a plan which one would think
might be very productive of sore-backs at a critical moment.
The isolation of the mangey from the healthy is of course necessary, but
mange can spread even though the camels are not able to rub against one
another.
The chief actual agent by which the mange parasite gets from one
camel to another in the cold weather is undoubtedly the ground on which a
mangey camel has been camped. It is of little avail to treat cases of mange
as long as the camel is allowed to sit on the same spot every night (I am not
speaking of stables, &c, which can be disinfected, as camels usually live in the
open); nor can the spread of the disease be arrested as long as the healthy
camels sit on the same spot.
The most important preventive measure against mange in the cold
weather is to camp always in a clean place where camels have not recently