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THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [VII, II
Fouadin used by Underwood and Wright [1932]. The author carried out
chemotherapeutic experiments to test the effect of large and even toxic doses of Fouadin
on the heartworm of the dog. He came to the conclusion that whereas the drug given
intramuscularly within a short period of time had marked microfilaricidal action, its
large and even fatal doses exerted little or no damaging effects on the adult worms. He
also tried the effects of Carbarsone, Hexylresorcinal Trypanblue or sodium antimonite
on the heartworm disease of the dog with negative filaricidal or microfilaricidal
results. The effect of Roentgen therapy was also tried on D. immitis in situ with
disappointing results.
A useful list of forty references concludes the paper. [H. D. S.]
Turning sickness, a protozoan encephalitis of cattle in Uganda. Its relation
with East Coast Fever. R. W. M. METTAM AND J. CARMICHAEL. (Parasi-
tology 28, 254, 1936).
" TURNING SICKNESS " or " Vizengerara ", as natives call it, has been reported to
cause damage to cattle in different parts of Uganda. In acute cases onset is sudden and
animals otherwise known to be healthy develop violent nervous symptoms, such as spin-
ning or turning in one direction with lack of coordination of movement, until dizzy,
when they collapse to the ground to rise up again within a few minutes. At this stage
the animal is comatose while salivation may be profuse. Muscular twitches at the time
of paroxysms are prominent. Respiration is hurried while the pulse is very weak or
quite imperceptible. The eyelids are wide open with injected conjunctiva and dilated
pupils. Sometimes local hyperaesthesia is also noticeable. A noteworthy feature of
the disease is the absence of any fever. At times complete blindness may ensue which
may be permanent or temporary. Diarrhœa has not been recorded, though in some
cases there was obstinate constipation. In chronic cases the animal appears unthrifty
or poor in condition ; generally quite blind in one or both eyes. Turning movements
are never severe, violent or continuous. Muscular incoordination and sometimes
atrophy of certain muscle groups has been reported. These protracted cases die of ex-
haustion and death may be quite unexpected. Pathologically, in acute cases, petechial
hæmorrhages or extravasations are noticed in various parts of the brain and meninges.
Microscopic examination reveals that the brain lesions are caused by the extensive
embolism of cerebral vessels and the lymphocytes, which form these emboli, show in
their cytoplasm protozoan bodies which are indistinguishable in structure from the
schizonts of the genus Theileria. In two cases only out of twenty-four, Koch's bodies
were seen in the lymphocytes of the peripheral blood. In chronic cases hæmorrhages
are absorbed but brain is permanently damaged by replacement changes and by the
appearance of small cysts or cavities containing citron-coloured fluid. The disease has
not yet been transmitted experimentally. Its connection with Theileriasis is still
uncertain but much evidence is on record to show that cases of turning sickness have
been infected with East Coast fever sometime previously. [H. N. R.]