104
Rinderpest in Sheep and Goats in Ajmer-Merwara
with a muco-purulent discharge from the nostrils. The anal region and the
hind legs were soiled with liquid fæces, which in some cases contained large
quantities of mucus and blood. As the Veterinary Assistant Surgeon re-
ported that in some cases there was enlargement of the spleen, blood smears
from a sheep which had just died were examined but proved negative for
anthrax. Further post mortem examination was conducted on two dead
sheep, in which the lungs appeared pneumonic and the gastro-intestinal
tract congested. Smears prepared from heart blood, liver, spleen and lungs
were negative for hæmorrhagic septicæmia and piroplasmosis.
In a few more autopsies conducted subsequently, pneumonic changes in
the lungs were not a constant feature, and the probability of the disease being
contagious pleuro-pneumonia was, to some extent, ruled out. On the con-
trary, typical lesions of rinderpest, such as ulceration and congestion en-
countered in bovines, were observed in the gastro-intestinal tract. In about
20 per cent of cases small ulcers were noticed on the lips and tongue. From the
clinical symptoms and post mortem findings recorded above, the disease showed
a very close resemblance to rinderpest. The puzzling thing, however, was
that cattle and buffaloes of the same and adjoining villages were not affected,
although some of them were housed at night with the affected sheep and grazed
with them during the day.
The outbreaks of rinderpest among sheep and goats in the hills and
plains reported by D'Costa [1936] were usually connected with outbreaks of
rinderpest among cattle of the same village and the mortality among sheep
and goats was not heavy.
With a view to confirming my provisional diagnosis of rinderpest, it was
decided to carry out blood sub-inoculation. For this purpose a sheep show
ing a temperature of 105.5° F. was selected and 8 c. c. of blood was withdrawn
under sterile precautions from its jugular vein and mixed with a 4 per cent
solution of sodium citrate. A buffalo-calf, a goat and a sheep were inoculated
subcutaneously with the citrated blood in doses of 3 c. c, 2 c. c. and 1.5 c. c.
respectively. The buffalo-calf showed a thermal reaction on the fourth day
and on the fifth and the sixth registered a temperature of 107° F. with
lachrymation, vesicles on the lips and soft fæces. In the goat only a thermal
reaction was noticed on the third day. In the sheep the reaction was mild
and the temperature rose to 103° F. but there were no other symptoms. A
cow-calf which was also inoculated with 5 c. c. of citrated blood showed a
thermal reaction and no other symptoms on the third day and registered
105° F. on the sixth day. The temperature of experimental subjects are
given in text-figures 1 to 4.
For additional confirmation of the diagnosis, a piece of spleen was re-
moved with strict sterile precautions from the sheep used for blood sub-
inoculations, and was despatched to the Imperial Veterinary Research Insti-
tute, Mukteswar, for biological test. The disease was confirmed as rinder-
pest.
Galambos [1861] established with certainty a disease in sheep identical
with rinderpest and he also succeeded in transmitting it artificially to sheep.
Since then the susceptibility of sheep as well as goats has been repeatedly
confirmed