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Bovine contagious Pleuropneumonia in Assam
and people generally live nearby. Hence unlike
Khutis, cattle population in this area is not con-
centrated in one locality, but scattered in small
groups, mainly for cultivation. In this area
there were about 450 head of cattle, including
150 buffaloes. In the course of two months
there were 24 attacks, out of which 15 died.
The disease spread in Majuly area, slower due to
the scattered condition of cattle population which
restricts frequent contact.
Here too, cattle movement is very common.
It is a practice in this area as well as in villages
adjacent to the banks of the Brahamaputra, to
remove the cattle to chars in the month of June.
The bullocks are kept for field work in the villages.
Cattle are brought back in November when the
grazing areas are free from inundation. There
are two chars—Banoria and Khajua—where
cattle from Majuly area and other villages are
brought for grazing. This practice of movement
of cattle has resulted in the spread of infection to
the villages on the southern bank of the river.
Available records show that the disease pre-
vailed in Majuly area, from 1928 to 1930 and from
time to time on subsequent years. It would
appear that the infection in this locality is of an
enzootic nature. Another feature worth mention-
ing in this connection is that the disease broke
out a short time after heavy rains. Information
relating to the previous occurrence of the disease,
as well as the particulars of this outbreak, suggests
soil-borne nature of the infection.
Outbreak in Kamrup district
The disease prevailed in Lowly village, Kamrup,
and was investigated in the month of February
1942. It was found that three villages closely
adjacent to Lowly were also affected.
They
are situated in an extensive low-lying marshy
tract of land on the north bank of the river
Brahamaputra. During rains and floods the whole
area remains inundated from about May to
August. In winter, too, there is stagnation of
water in certain localities, particularly in riverian
regions. Excepting a few patches of cultivated
land, the whole area serves as a common grazing
ground for cattle in the neighbourhood. The
total number of cattle in the affected villages
was approximately 700, including 30 buffaloes.
About 100 cattle were affected, out of which 70
died in the course of 3 months.
Enquiry elicited the information that the disease
had spread from the neighbouring villages situated
about six miles east of Lowly. In three of the
neighbouring villages, the desease was prevalent
in March 1941. Cattle movement in the whole
area is quite common. The slow and insidious
nature of its course in the village herds, extending
to a period of about a year was characteristic.
It was also reported that the disease had prevailed
in some of these villages in the year 1934-35.
The earliest available record of the occurrence of
the disease in Kamrup district dates from 1913-14,
and some localities had suffered severe losses
from time to time at irregular intervals.
SYMPTOMS
Symptoms are fairly recognizable and even
well-marked, as they vary with the stage of the
disease. The onset of the disease is noticed by
the dull and inactive appearance associated with
an impaired appetite and cessation of rumina-
tion. Pyrexia with temperature ranging from
104° to 105°F, staring coat, watery discharge
from the eyes and nose and occasional cough are
soon observed. After this early stage, more
distressing symptoms of the respiratory system
develop. Breathing is hurried and hard, with
dilatation of the nostrils during inspiration.
Occasional grunting or low husky cough, pain on
pressure of the chest and dull respiratory sound
on percussion are noticed. The progressive
development of pneumonia is manisfeted by the
laboured and distressed breathing which ultimate-
ly becomes abdominal. Moist rales and some-
times gurgling noises may also be heard on auscul-
tation. The animal stands usually with the fore-
legs apart. Attempt to drink water during the
course of the disease is often observed; but there
is no inclination to feed. Urine, sometimes
high coloured, is passed without difficulty. In
the last stage, the animal assumes a recumbent
position with marked distress in breathing.
There is usually frothy discharge from the nose.
General emaciation supervenes. Motions may
sometimes be soft or loose but digestive disturb-
ance is neither primary nor prominent. There
is sub-normal temperature before death.
The period of incubation could not be definitely
ascertained, but, from the particulars of the
affected cases, it would appear to be about a
week. The disease usually runs a slow course
of one to three weeks or more. Where both the
lungs are affected, the course is shorter—about
two weeks—but when one lung is involved, the
course is prolonged even up to eight or nine weeks.
Recovered animals remain convalescing for a
period of about three to four months.
POST MORTEM FINDINGS
Post mortem lesions are almost entirely identi-
cal in all cases examined at various centres.
Slight variations in degree or intensity of the
lesions were observed depending upon the duration
or course of the disease.