NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
46 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I
carried out this examination, "the strain does not appear to be an avian type;
it has bovine rather than human cultural characters ". Successful sub-cultures
were also obtained from the original strain. In serum glycerine agar, the three-
week old culture showed a filiform, dry, dull, scanty, grayish growth. In serum
agar, the growth was of the same type as in the preceding, but it was more scanty.
Histology. The tuberculous lesions in the affected portions of the lungs and
glands showed a central caseating area surrounded by a zone of epithelioid cells
and giant cells. In advanced lesions calcareous deposits were present. A consider-
able amount of tissue destruction was evident in very advanced cases.
Results obtained from the inoculation of cultures into small animals.
The growths in the tubes were emulsified in physiological saline solution and
the emulsion inoculated into 3 rabbits, 3 guineapigs and 3 fowls, as shown below:—
Rabbit
„
„
Guineapig
„
„
Fowls
„
„
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
76
77
78
374
375
376
223
224
225
} Inoculated 5 milligrammes each intravenously.
} Inoculated 10 milligrammes each intraperitoneally.
} Inoculated 10 milligrammes each intramuscularly.
Rabbit No. 76. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 22nd July 1929. Lungs
packed with miliary tubercles varying from the size of a pin-point to that of a
pin-head ; Hæmorrhagic spots all over the internal organs. Smears from lungs,
liver, spleen and kidneys showed numerous acid-fast organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Tuberculosis.
Rabbit No. 77. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 14th July 1929.
This animal died of rupture of liver and consequent hæmorrhage in the
peritoneal cavity. Smears from all the internal organs showed a few acid-fast
organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Internal hæmorrhage due to rupture of liver.
Rabbit No. 78. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 22nd July 1929.
Lungs packed with numerous grayish-yellow miliary tubercles varying from
the size of a pin-point to that of a pin-head. [Plate II, fig. 2.]
TUBERCULOSIS IN GOATS IN INDIA
47
Liver congested. Spleen highly enlarged. Smears from all the internal organs
showed numerous acid-fast organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Tuberculosis.
Guineapig 374. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 18th July 1929.
Peritoneal cavity with about 5 c.c. turbid, sero-sanguineous fluid. Spleen con-
gested and distinctly enlarged. Liver found adherent to the stomach by means of a
thick yellowish-white caseating mass, with numerous granular deposits. Pea-sized
caseating lesion found around the seat of needle-puncture subcutaneously. Lungs
congested. Smears from all the internal organs showed acid-fast organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Tuberculosis.
Guineapig 375. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 20th July 1929. A caseated
area, about 1½ inches square, found subcutaneously, around the needle puncture
point. Parietal peritoneum studded with petechial marks. Visceral peritoneum
with marked capillary blood-vessel injection and masses of adherent fibrinous
flakes. Peritoneal cavity with about 15 c.c. turbid sanguineous fluid. Yellowish-
white, fibrinous adhesion between liver and stomach. Diaphragm studded with
yellowish-gray minute nodular lesions. Smears of all the organs showed acid-fast
organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Tuberculosis.
Guineapig 376. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 20th July 1929.
Same lesions as in Guineapig No. 375. In addition, about half-a-dozen
yellowish-gray nodules on the liver were found. Smears from all the organs showed
acid-fast organisms.
Etiological diagnosis. Tuberculosis.
Fowl No. 223. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 12th July 1929.
No macroscopical lesions found. Smears negative for tubercle bacilli.
Fowl No. 224. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Died 17th August 1929, of
" Ranikhet fowl disease ". Smears from all the internal organs negative for tubercle
bacilli. Smears from the seat of inoculation showed a few acid-fast organisms.
Fowl No. 225. Inoculated 9th July 1929. Destroyed 4th September 1929.
A four-anna coinsized, pale-yellow lesion found at the seat of inoculation, the
lesion extending to a depth of about half-an-inch in the underlying muscles. No
other lesions. Smears of all internal organs found negative for tubercle bacilli, but
the local lesion showed a few acid-fast organisms.
III. THE SPECIFIC NATURE OF THE TUBERCLE BACILLUS AFFECTING GOATS.
As is well known, fowls are easily infected with tubercle bacilli of the avian
type and they are highly resistant to experimental infections with tubercle bacilli
D 2
48 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I
of both the human and bovine types, although they may develop minimal local
changes at the seat of inoculation when mammalian tubercle bacilli are employed.
As the three fowls used in this experiment could not be infected, the possibility of
the goat strain of tubercle bacilli being of the avian type is excluded. On the other
hand, it has been stated that guineapigs are highly susceptible to infection with
both the human and bovine types of tubercle bacilli, but that rabbits are more
susceptible to the latter than to the former form of infection. The strain of
tubercle bacilli isolated in the present experiments proved to bo particularly
virulent for rabbits, as evidenced by the occurrence of extensive miliary lesions in
the lungs of these animals [Plate II, fig. 2]. This would appear to point to the
conclusion that the strain was of the bovine type.
REFERENCES.
Calmette, A. (1923). Tubercle Bacillus Infection and Tuberculosis in Man and Animals.
Edgar, W. A. (1892). Jl. of Comp. Path. and Ther. 5, 80.
Edwards J. T. (1927). Report of the Impl. Inst. of Vety. Research, Muktesar, for the year ending 31st
March 1927, p. 20.
Nocard, Ed. (1895). The Animal 'Tuberculoses and their relation to Human Tuberculosis.
Royal Commission on Tuberculosis (Human and Bovine). Second Interim Report, Part I, p. 70, 1997.
RHINOSPORIDIOSIS IN EQUINES.*
BY
V. KRISHNAMURTI AYYAR, I.V.S.,
Ag. Principal, Madras Veterinary College, Madras.
(Received for publication on 23rd September 1931.)
(With Plates III to V.)
The earliest recorded occurrence of Rhinosporidiosis in man dates back to the
year 1900 when Seeber discovered the parasite in growth from the nasal cavities
of two men living in Argentina. Since then cases have come to be recorded in man
in India and other parts of the world by various workers. Most of the cases
recorded in India were from the Madras Presidency and in the great majority of
such cases the lesions, which were of the nature of a polypus, were found in nasal
cavities, and naso-pharynx, while in a few others they were present on the uvula,
conjunctiva, lachrymal-sac, penis and the ear.
As regards its prevalence in animals, its occurrence was, for the first time,
recorded in the nasal tumour in a horse in South Africa by Zschokke in 1913. It
is reported that the tumour was round and was of the size of an egg, reddish in
colour and hard with a rough outer surface and that inside were found cysts which
were filled with a parasite allied to Rhinosporidium Seeberi. He designated the
parasite as Rhinosporidium equi.
Two more cases in mules came to be recorded in the same country in 1928 by
Quinlan and deKoch. One of the mules showed a number of pinkish tumour-like
growths with irregular masses in the nasal mucous membranes, the smallest
measuring about 2 mm. in diameter and 1 mm. in height, and the largest, which
appeared to be formed by the coalescence of smaller growths, measuring 2 cm. in
diameter and 1.5 cm. in height. The other mule made a roaring sound and
exhibited signs of dyspnoea when trotted, and in the left nostril was found a large
granulation-like mass practically filling the whole of it. In both these cases on
histological examination spore morulæ of rhinosporidium have been reported to be
present.
Recently the attention of the author was drawn by Professor J. H. Ashworth
of Edinburgh to a record of a nasal polypus of the horse due to Rhinosporidium
found in the Veterinary School in Montevedeo (Cordero and Vogelsang).
* Paper read at the 18th Session of the Indian Science Congress held at Nagpur in January 1931.
( 49 )
50 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I
Beyond these cases its occurrence has not been reported in equines or in other
animals in any other country or in India, except those which I have recorded in
cattle in India in 1927.
Towards the end of November 1929, a specimen of growth was received from
Veterinary Assistant Surgeon T. K. Sreenivasan, in charge of Veterinary Dispensary,
Mayavaram, purported to have been removed from the nasal septum of a pony with
the following history sheet:—
District . . . . .
Taluk . . . . .
Village . . . . .
Animal sex and class . . .
General condition . .
Age . . . . .
Temperature . . . .
Seat of tumour . . . .
Average rate of growth . .
Duration and fate of tumour if
untreated.
Result of removal
.
.
.
Tanjore.
Mayavaram.
Mayavaram.
Pony mare.
Good.
Six years.
Nil.
Nasal septum anteriorly and its floor.
Three months duration.
Once operated last year and cauterised; but
grows again.
Recurs.
The specimen consisted of two pieces and these were received preserved in
formalin solution. These pieces measured one inch in length and three-fourth inch
in height and appeared as if portions had been scissored off from growths existing
in the cavity. The true colour of the specimen could not definitely be stated
although in transferring it to alcohol and then to glycerinated water, a pinkish colour
was noticeable indicating its high vascularity.
The growths on naked eye examination were found to have an uneven surface
with numerous excrescences and they were easily friable. On close inspection they
revealed minute pale spots embedded, as it were, in a granulation mass-like tissue.
(Plate III, figure 1.)
On the examination of the specimen under high power lens and under water,
the papillose character of the growth was distinctly marked and numerous papillary
processes were detected easily. The processes were seen to branch in various direc-
tions and the minute pale spots seen under naked eye were clearly visible and
appeared as cysts arranged in masses and in varying sizes. (Plate III. figure 2.)
Sections of preserved materials were then cut and examined. The striking
picture which first presented to one's view showed that the growth had been
removed from the anterior part of the nasal cavity in as much as the surface
epithelium was stratified or squamous in character. The epithelium presented an
irregular outline but was not very much indented as in man. Numerous invagina-
tions as had been found in cattle did not form a prominent feature, though a few
could be detected in some fields. (Plate III, figures 3 and 4.)
PLATE III.
Fig. 1. Specimen of growth showing
irregular surface.
Fig. 2. Specimen of growth examined under magnifying
lens showing the papillose character and the cysts.
Fig. 3 (Horse).
Fig. 4 (Cattle).
Section of growth showing the appearance of the epithelium under low power (horse) compared with that in cattle.
PLATE IV.
Fig. 1. Section of growth showing the thinning of the
surface epithelium and rupture.
Fig. 2. Section showing the branching of connective tissue
cells between two sporangia.
Fig. 3. Section showing a sporangium with its well defined
capsule and immature sporangia by its side.
No. 4.
No. 5.
Figs. 4 and 5.—same as Fig. 3, highly magnified.
PLATE V.
Fig. 1. Showing the rupture of the sporangium with the escape of its contents.
Fig. 2. Some of the discharged spores are also seen escaping into the adjacent connective tissue.
RHINOSPORIDIOSIS IN EQUINES
51
Close to these invaginations were found sporangia in different stages. The
epithelium was found getting thinned in some fields and showed ruptures in others
associated with the rupture of sporangium discharging spores and leucocytes.
(Plate IV, figures 1 and 2.)
The sub-epidermal tissue was found vascular and myxofibromatous in
character. The branching of the connective tissue cells between the sporangia was
very marked.
Sporangia of different sizes in different stages of development were well seen.
They were frequently met with in the connective tissue of the polypus. They were
either spheroidal or oval in outline with a well defined capsule of varying thickness.
Immature sporangia could be well seen by the side of mature ones. (Plate IV,
figures 3, 4 and 5.)
The spores contained in the sporangium were in different stages. Fully
developed spores were found centrally placed and they were found enclosed by
a chitinous envelope with refrangent spherules inside them. With the increase of
sporangium in size and the development of spores inside it, stretching and the
consequent thinning of the envelope were found to occur and these led eventually
to the rupture of the epithelium and the sporangium discharging the spores.
(Plate V, figures 1 and 2.)
From the facts recorded above, it will be seen that the situation of growth, its
gross appearance, histology of the polypus, and structure of the sporangium, have
all a very close similarity to the human Rhinosporidium. Prof. J. H. Ashworth,
to whom the author sent a portion of the above growth, has been kind enough to
confirm the findings and added that in a few sporangia the first breaking up of the
cytoplasm was rather different from that of the human material but that the final
spores appeared, however, like those in the human form.
DISCUSSION.
The disease popularly known as "Infective Nasal granuloma or Snoring
disease " has been in existence in different parts of India since a very long time,
in cattle, characterised by the occurrence of growths in the nostril and in a paper
by this author entitled " Nasal Granuloma in Cattle " and published as one of the
Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture in India, the cause of the disease was
traced to a Streptothrix which resembled closely Actinomycosis bovis but differing
from it in being acid and alcohol fast. Though this appeared to be the cause of
the disease in most of the cases examined, in a paper read by the author at the
Seventh Congress of the Far Eastern Association of Tropical Medicine held in
Calcutta in 1927, was recorded for the first time the occurrence of Rhinosporidium
52 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I
in such nasal growths in cattle unassociated, however, with any streptothrix and
its striking identity with Rhinosporidium seeberi and the importance of its signi-
ficance was discussed therein. Prof. Ashworth, to whom the author sent the
specimen of growth from cattle subsequently, while confirming the finding, agrees
that the finding of Rhinosporidiosis in cattle raises an important issue, and that
further investigation may probably throw light on the method of infection.
The case described in this paper is the first of its kind to be recorded in a horse
in India and although it is not possible definitely to say whether it is the same as
either human or cattle Rhinosporidium, yet this finding, when taken with its
occurrence among cattle, is of interest in a country where cases of human Rhinos¬
poridiosis are now and then met with. The fact also remains that in view of the
mode of infection in man not having been understood, the possibility of the disease
being included among those fully recognised to be common to man and animals
should be kept in view.
Two interesting points remain also to be mentioned in this connection and
they are :—
1. The case met with in the horse comes from the same district in which cases
in cattle have been recorded.
2. The infection has occurred in animals of both sexes. This point is mentioned
particularly in as much as Sir. St. Clair Thomson in his book on " Disease of the
Nose and Throat " [ 1926 ] states in connection with human Rhinosporidium that
" all cases so far recorded have been in males " and the author finds only recently
a case has been recorded in the female by Cherian and Vasudevan [ 1929 ].
REFERENCES.
Ashworth, J. H. On Rhinosporidium seeberi (Wernicke, 1903) with special reference to its sporulation
and affinities. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 52, part II (No. 16).
Ashworth, J. H., and Turner, A. Logan (June, 1925). A case of Rhinosporidiosis, Journal of
Laryngology and Otology.
Cherian and Vasudevan (August, 1929). A case of Rhinosporidiosis in the Female. Journal of
Laryngology and Otology.
Cordero and Vogelsang (1928). Boletin del Institute de clinical quirurgica Ano. TV, page 573.
Krishnamurti Ayyar, V. (1925). Nasal Granuloma in Cattle, Memoirs of the Department of Agriculture
in India, Veterinary Series, 3, 6.
Ibid (1929). Rhinosporidiosis in Cattle. Transactions of the Far Eastern Tropical Medicine, Seventh
Congress held in India, December 1927.
Quinlan and de Kock, G. (1927). Two cases of Rhinosporidiosis in Equines. South African Journal of
Science, December, 3, page 584-594. Abstracted in Tropical Veterinary Bulletin, September 1.
Zschokke, E. (1913). Ein. Rhinosporidium lesim Pferd. Schweizer Arch. F. Tierheilkunde, December,
55, 12, page 641-650. Abstracted in Tropical Dis. Bull 6, page 202.
TUBERCULOSIS IN A COW-BUFFALO WITH A REVIEW
OF THE DISEASE IN INDIA.
BY
R. N. NAIK, G.B.V.C.,
Assistant Veterinary Research Officer, Imperial Institute of Veterinary Research,
Muktesar.
(Received for publication on the 6th October 1931.)
During recent years, tuberculosis in cattle has received a good deal of attention
from medical workers in India in view of its transmissibility to human beings.
Until recently, the disease in cattle had been regarded by certain workers as a rare
condition, and Joshi [1914] records having consistently failed to detect Bacillus
tuberculosis in samples of milk examined by him and also refers to his failure
to prove the disease in guinea-pigs after inoculation with milk samples
in which tubercle bacilli were detected. On the other hand, Soparker [1929]
records having succeeded in producing tubercle lesions in guinea-pigs by inocula-
ting them with material derived from a slightly enlarged spleen of another guinea-
pig which had failed to reveal B. tuberculosis in its tissues, after it had been inocula-
ted with bovine B. tuberculosis recovered from a human patient. Other findings
especially those of Taylor [1918] showed that the disease was by no means uncom-
mon at least in the Punjab, whilst Soparker has very recently brought forward
considerable evidence in support of Taylor's statement. The latest findings of
Soparker and Dhillon [1931] show an incidence of 22.85 per cent. in cows, bullocks
and buffaloes slaughtered at Lahore.
As the greater quantity of milk consumed in India today comes from the
buffaloes, it would be interesting to discuss the extent to which this species of
animal has been found susceptible to tuberculosis infection. In 1925, Soparker
detected a case of tuberculosis in a buffalo when examined post-mortem at Muktesar
and the same observer in collaboration with Dhillon [1931] records having found
at the Lahore slaughter house that 23.6 per cent. of buffaloes showed either
tubercular lesions or reacted to the tuberculin test.
According to the same author [1925], the susceptibility of buffaloes following
upon artificial inoculation worked out at 88.8 per cent. in the case of Jafferbadi
buffaloes and 87.5 per cent. in the case of Murrah buffaloes and he was thus led to
( 53 )
54 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ II, I
regard the buffalo as being somewhat more susceptible to tuberculosis infection
than the cow. These facts would seem to indicate that the incidence of the disease
in buffaloes under natural conditions is likely to be higher than in cattle, although
such cases have hitherto remained unrecorded owing to the general ignorance of
stock-owners and the difficulty of arranging post-mortem examinations particularly
in aged buffaloes under field conditions.
In view of the very striking paucity of records concerning natural clinical
cases of tuberculosis in buffaloes, the following observations made by the present
writer in 1922 upon a case of generalised tuberculosis in this species may be of
interest.
The subject was a Jafferbadi buffalo-cow aged 9 years. She was purchased by
the owner about 4 years previously from a Gowli who was residing in Poona City.
When bought, she was yielding eleven seers of milk and was in a very good
condition. When dry, she used to be sent to Rahatani, a village 10 miles away from
the Poona City for grazing.
She calved normally about the beginning of December 1921. A few days later
she contracted Foot and Mouth disease and recovered but after that she was noticed
to be losing her condition. On the 29th December 1921 she was off feed, had
constipation and was brought to the Poona City Veterinary Hospital on the 2nd
January 1922, for treatment as an out-patient, when she was found suffering
from diarrhœa and profuse salivation. From this date until the 11th
January 1922 her temperature fluctuated between 102°F. and 104°F. and the treat-
ment given in the hospital could not stop the symptoms noticed on the first day. At
the desire of the owner, the treatment was discontinued from the 12th January
1922 to 22nd February 1922.
On the 22nd February 1922 she was brought to the Bamburda Veterinary
Hospital, Poona, as an in-patient. She was then in a very poor condition, with
loose bowels, short husky cough, impaired appetite, pale mucous membranes and
accelerated respiration. She was here suspected for tuberculosis, but on account
of unsteady temperature, no opportunity was afforded for the carrying out the
tuberculin test. As a result of the treatment the faeces improved in consistency,
but in spite of every treatment the animal steadily lost condition and finally died
in a sitting position on the 7th March 1922.
The post-mortem examination resulted in a number of interesting findings. The
muscles were wasted and there was little intramuscular fat, The blood was quite
thin and watery. The lungs appeared completely to fill the thoracic-cavity ; they
were so enormously enlarged that they looked as if they were artificially inflated.
The left lung adhered posteriorly to the chest wall and weighed 28 lb. 6 oz. The