17
66. Cattle Preservation Company's Camp No. 6—Ahmedabad.—opened on
the 20th March and closed on the 27th April 1900 with 521 cattle. The total
mortality in this camp has been 51 from debility, accidents, &c., and there was
no contagious or infections disease.
67. Cattle Camp, Nadiad, No. 7—Opened on the 23rd October and closed
on the 16th April 1900. It contains 549 cattle, of which 180 have died—rinder-
pest 17, debility, accidents, &c., 163. Rinderpest commenced on the 27th
January 1900 and ceased on the 11th February. There were 23 animals
attacked, of which 17 died and 6 recovered.
68. Cattle Camp, Broach, No. 8—Opened on the 11th November 1899 and
closed on the 28th February 1900. It contained 1,087 cattle, of which 164
have been returned to their owners and 63 have died—rinderpest 3 and debi-
lity 65.
69. Summary.—These camps since last October have had something like
7,000 animals through them, and up to the end of April the total casualties from
debility (famine), accidents and common diseases amounted to 615 and from
rinderpest to only 68. I do not know any similar case in this country, when
dealing with rinderpest, where it has been possible amongst so large a number of
animals to record statistics that are both accurate and reliable in every way. In
this instance every animal was counted once a day, placed in an enclosed yard
during the night, fed from a trough and inspected daily by qualified Veterinary
Graduates. On the slightest symptom of disease they were at once removed to
yards especially set apart for the purpose, and if contagious segregated. I have
already stated that rinderpest broke out in 4 camps, that 137 animals were
attacked, of which 68 died and 72 recovered; this out of a total of nearly 7,000
animals.
70. When it was proposed to inoculate all the animals in these camps,
great difficulty was experienced in obtaining virulent blood, and with this object
in view 4 calves were at different times inoculated intravenously with 10 c.c.
of virulent blood and others were placed alongside of animals suffering from
rinderpest. But in no single instance were we successful in reproducing the
disease, and not a single animal showed the slightest reaction. I think that
there can be no doubt that nearly all the buffaloes in No. 2 camp and that 80
per cent. of the cattle in No. 5 camp had the disease in a modified form, although
no visible symptoms were apparent. These facts are valuable, in that they
prove rinderpest is a disease considerably affected by the conditions under which
it is placed and the class of cattle attacked. In the cattle camps we had great
heat, direct action of the sun on most of the yards, dry absorbent sandy soil and
good sanitary arrangements. Under these conditions the disease did not spread,
but confined itself to the yards in which it originated, although nothing but post
and rails divided the yards, and cattle were in the habit of licking each other
through the rails; had these conditions been reversed, and instead of the great
heat and dryness, moisture and cold had prevailed, the disease would most pro-
bably have spread rapidly and the mortality would have been great. The
disease was of the most virulent type, as the majority of deaths occurred within
5 days. Our unsuccessful efforts to reproduce the disease, the small number
actually attacked in proportion to the number unavoidably exposed to contagion,
can only be accounted for in the two following ways: that the great heat and
desiccating-effects of the sun are antagonistic to the disease, or that a very large
percentage of the Gujarát cattle are immune.
71. The great mortality from debility (famine) in Nos. 2 and 7 camps
was due to the fact that many animals were admitted in the beginning that
should have been rejected. It is well known that cattle starved to a certain
point never recover. When in this state, even if placed under the most favour-
able conditions, they linger on few weeks and eventually die. Mr. Mollison
and I endeavoured to some extent to rectify this, and sent many animals, that
had already been accepted, to the Pinjrápol.
B 347—5