NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
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to which each Government dairy farm was infected and steps are
now being taken to call for information regarding the incidence of
contagious abortion in India, on the receipt of which the question
of the vaccination of all Government dairy farm animals as a whole
would be taken up.
The Chairman considered that contagious abortion now deserved
more attention, as it appeared to be assuming considerable import-
ance, judging from the evidence which had been presented.
Mr. Wilson stated that while he was at the Hissar Cattle farm,
from May 1906 to January 1908, multiple cases of abortion occurred
among pony mares and cows there.
Mr. Riley stated that to his knowledge no cases of contagious
abortion had been discovered in Bihar and Orissa in cows or mares.
Mr. Harris also stated that no evidence of the disease had been
obtained in Assam. During the last few months he had made
careful inquiries through the veterinary personnel in regard to the
possibility of its existence.
After further discussion the following resolution was unanimously
passed :—
Resolution II(d)
That recent evidence shows that contagious abortion is an
important disease of live-stock in certain parts of India, and
further investigations should be prosecuted in regard to its
origin, regional distribution, susceptibility of the various
classes of live-stock to infection, and the institution of proper
measures of control.
SUBJECT II (e).-TUBERCULOSIS. PREVALENCE OF TUBERCULOSIS
AMONG LIVE-STOCK IN INDIA, AND THE DANGER OF INFECTION
TO HUMAN BEINGS FROM THIS SOURCE.
The Chairman said : " Tuberculosis was discussed at the last
meeting and it was resolved that the need for investigation of the
whole question of tuberculosis in India was urgent. The Govern-
ment of India commended this resolution to the attention of Local
Governments and administrations and stated they had under
consideration the question of taking measures to prevent the intro-
duction of bovine tuberculosis with imported cattle.
" I raised this question when Superintendent, Civil Veterinary
Department, Bombay Presidency, as cases of imported tuberculosis
in cattle had been brought to my notice. I do not know what
final orders, if any, have been passed in this connection.
81
" I have previously sat with Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson
on a committee to discuss tuberculosis from the public health point
of view. I know that he is an authority on the subject.
" I will ask him to give us his views."
Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson stated that what he particularly
wanted to urge was the immense importance of undertaking further
investigations with regard to the whole problem of tuberculosis
in India. At the present time they were merely groping in the dark.
The prevailing impression was that tuberculosis of cattle was a rare
disease in India, but from the returns which had been derived from
the village officers for many years, it could well be seen that it was
an important disease in man. Human tuberculosis was related
mainly with industrial development, and in certain old established
centres of industry, such as Bombay, the mortality from tuberculosis
was high. The high incidence in industrial centres, however, was
gradually becoming reflected in rural areas and undoubtedly was
connected with the migration of workers. In some rural areas it
had now become a serious disease. The important point was to get
reliable evidence with regard to the proportion of cases of human
tuberculosis due to infection with tubercle bacilli of bovine origin.
So far as one could gather it would appear that by far the greater
proportion of cases of tuberculosis in adult human beings traceable
to bovine origin was that which comprised tuberculous disease of
the bones and joints, the so-called " closed " tuberculosis. The
other forms of tuberculosis were regarded for convenience as cases
of " open " tuberculosis. It appeared that the percentage of cases
of the closed type was practically the same in India as in other
countries. He had attended the International Conference on
Tuberculosis in 1920 and compared the figures obtainable from India
with those of the whole world. The figures obtainable were derived
from the cases which came to hospital for treatment. About 18
per cent. of the cases fell into the " closed " type, and this figure was
almost exactly the same as that representing the incidence of this
type in any other country. The mortality figures of Bombay city
indicated that only 10 per cent. were due to the closed type. In
Calcutta the proportion was less, namely, 5.5 per cent. He referred
to the recent work of Stanley Griffiths upon the strains responsible
for the " closed " type of tuberculosis. Out of 132 cases of the
"closed" type examined, 13.6 per cent. were due to the bovine
strain. Of the persons under 16 years of age, 20 per cent. were due
to the bovine strain. In persons over 16 years of age it was just
over 6 per cent. In India, the work hitherto done had been some-
what sketchy, and the number of cases investigated very small;
so far as he was aware the bovine type had not been isolated from
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human lesions. He suggested that investigations should be carried
out in India on two lines : (1) More should be done to ascertain the
true prevalence of tuberculosis in cattle ; (2) Work should be done
in regard to the differentiation of the types responsible for bone
and joint tuberculosis in human beings. He considered that the
first line of investigation suggested was of vast importance to the
hygiene of man, for the " closed " form of tuberculosis was due in
many cases to bacilli of the bovine type, and a very large proportion
of cases of the tuberculosis of children was traceable to infection
from the milk supply. He described the efforts of the Medical
Research Committee at Home at the present time in this direction,
and stated that they were now in the course of carrying out extensive
investigations on the reliability of tuberculin tests. The information
which would soon be available would be of very considerable value.
As regards the milk supply, almost every province was now legislat-
ing or contemplating legislation on the ordinary lines dealing with
the adulteration of food and the prevention of the sale of adulterated
milk.
Mr. Edwards first related the action which had been taken
recently by the Government of India and the maritime provinces
in drafting regulations under the Live Stock Importation Act, 1898,
for the prohibition of importation of cattle suffering from tuber-
culosis. The landing of cattle was now prohibited except at a few
ports and all the maritime provinces had drafted regulations for
prohibiting the importation of tuberculous cattle. From the
available evidence it seemed that the incidence of tuberculosis
among animals in India at the present time was low. Where
examination of carcases of cattle at slaughter houses had been
undertaken the incidence was found to be about 3 per cent. He
summarized the information which had been published in this
respect. In quite recent years some careful experimental work
had been done on a relatively small scale by Glen Liston and Sopar-
kar in Bombay and by Sheather at Muktesar. It seemed from the
results of the former workers that the susceptibility of Indian cattle
to infection was rather low, whereas the Muktesar work appeared
to indicate that the bovine strain of organism found in India was of
a relatively low virulence. In most of the cases recorded, the lesions
had assumed the form of localised, discrete tubercles, but in a case
which had now been recorded by Mr. Sowerby in an indigenous
ox from the Bombay Presidency the lesions seemed to be widely
distributed throughout the body. It would, therefore, seem that
cattle in India that became infected were quite liable to suffer from
the disease in a serious form. However, he considered that a great
deal of research work must be done as soon as possible to obtain
more information upon these important points relative to the
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susceptibility of indigenous cattle and the virulence of the prevalent
strains. Although the disease was probably rare, it would perhaps
be found on further investigation that, as had been revealed in the
course of the discussion on anthrax, it was more prevalent than had
been suspected if a more thorough search for the condition was made.
Recently, he had approached the Director of the Indian Medical
Research Fund Association with a view to obtaining the assistance
of a colleague from his staff to collaborate in further work to be
undertaken at Muktesar, and he understood that Dr. Soparkar was
to be deputed for this work. As had been pointed out in the course
of the discussion on contagious abortion, tuberculosis and contagious
abortion were now the two most important infectious diseases of
cattle in Western countries. It had been stated by a distinguished
authority recently that there were probably not ten large herds of
considerable size in England free from the disease, and it was said
that the average incidence of tuberculous infection in Europe was
probably from 20 to 30 per cent. in all cattle. This extraordinary
high incidence of infection was undoubtedly connected with the
economic development of the cattle industry. This development
was correlated with the efforts made to improve the breeds of cattle
for the special purposes for which they were destined, which entailed
the introduction of individuals from other herds, improved facilities
of transport, aggregation of large number of cattle in closed estab-
lishments, and the development of the dairy industry. With the
economic development of the cattle industry in India, it was not
unlikely that the same factors which had operated to cause the spread
of tuberculosis in other civilized countries would obtain in this
country also. Perhaps on account of climatic conditions there
would not be the same danger of spread due to the adoption of
systems of housing as there had been in cooler countries. Notwith-
standing this, he believed that in places such as the Southern States
of U. S. A. and in Argentina, the conditions were not far different
from those in India and tuberculosis had become a serious menace
to the rapid economic development of the cattle industry. If we
were thus confronted eventually with a comparable danger, it was
obvious that in the event of proof forthcoming that the incidence of
infection at the present time was very low, the most serious pre-
cautions should be taken to prevent the disease from obtaining a
foothold in the important herds in the country, so that the condition
of affairs which existed at the present time in the important herds
in Europe should not be allowed to establish itself in India. He
would thus like to impress upon the meeting that they should
recommend the prosecution of reasearch into the question of the
prevalence and nature of tuberculous infection in cattle in India
with the utmost speed, and that endeavours should then be made to
84
establish measures of control based upon those findings. It was,
however, likely that the Government military dairies would com-
mence efforts in this direction immediately with the cattle under
their control.
Colonel Pallin stated that as far as his experience went the in-
cidence of tuberculosis in cattle in this country must be small, for,
as far as he was aware, no case of tuberculosis had been reported
among the cattle in the military dairies and the milk was sterilized
before issue. The question of applying the tuberculin test to the
cattle at the dairies had not yet been taken up, but he regarded it
as a practical suggestion. Evidently, it would undoubtedly supply
information of considerable value.
Mr. Hewlett stated that a case of typical tuberculosis in a country
bred animal belonging to the military dairy farm at Jubbulpore had
been brought recently to his notice by the D. D. V. S., Southern
Command.
Mr. Smith stated that during 15 years' experience in the military
dairy farms of which eight were spent as Controller of a Circle in
which about 27,000 cattle were under his charge and which were
maintained in an area extending from Quetta to Wellington, no
case of tuberculosis had come to his knowledge in any animal that
had died after attaining the age of one year. Post-mortem exa-
minations on at least four out of every five of the cattle that had died
were carried out by Members of the Royal College of Veterinary
Surgeons and not one authenticated case of tuberculosis was dis-
covered. At one dairy the disease was at one time suspected among
the animals and two animals were sent to Muktesar alive for observa-
tion. The animals were found to be suffering from Johne's disease.
One case was suspected at Quetta some time ago, but it was doubtful
whether it was in reality tuberculosis. He admitted that in the
districts the disease was sometimes discoverable, but he contended
that the chances of spreading infection in this country were very
small indeed, as by far the greater proportion of the cattle lived
continuously under natural conditions, in the open air.
Mr. Krishna Murthi said that the first case of tuberculosis in
cattle was detected by him at the Madras Veterinary College in the
year 1916, and in the same year, when he was deputed to work in
the Bombay Bacteriological Laboratory, he found that Colonel
Glen Liston and Dr. Soparkar were engaged in investigating an
outbreak in the Zoological Gardens, Bombay, and testing the
susceptibility of Indian cattle. He added that the same subject
came up again for discussion at the Medical Research Section of the
Indian Science Congress last year. During his experience for the
last seven years he had come across about twelve cases of tuberculosis
85
among bullocks belonging to the Corporation of Madras, and
all these cases had been confirmed by him microscopically.
Specimens were also sent by Mr. Aitchison to Colonel Glen Liston
who had made mention of it in the Indian Journal of Medical Re-
search. He added that last October he had occasion to test a
bullock by means of the tuberculin test; a positive reaction was
obtained and the animal was destroyed. On post-mortem examina-
tion the lesions found confirmed the test. In the cases he had seen,
the lesions were of the acute type (involving the pleura, lungs,
bronchial and mediastinal glands, mesentric glands and intestines,
and even kidneys). Though he was strongly of opinion that the
nature of the lesions indicated that they were set up by the common
bovine type of organism, yet he had no experimental proof to
adduce in support of this contention. He had made inoculations,
however, into guinea-pigs, and in one of these small animals he
discovered generalized tuberculosis with involvement of the spleen,
and demonstrated the lesions in a specimen that he brought with
him to the meeting. He said that it was of the utmost importance
that immediate steps should be taken to ascertain whether the cases
of tuberculosis in cattle met within this country were of the bovine
type as found elsewhere.
Mr. Smith further stated that while the Delhi Durbar was in
progress he, had under his charge 4,500 cattle for the provision of
milk for the troops stationed there. About 250 of these cattle were
selected at random to be tested by the tuberculin test, but no animal
reacted.
Mr. Wilson stated that about the same period several hundred
milch cattle were brought up to various places on the railway line
for the supply of milk to the royal train. Twenty or thirty cattle
were tested by the tuberculin test, with negative results. He
considered that a source of great danger to the human population
was represented by the cattle maintained singly or in very small
numbers of about two or three by Indians of the well-to-do classes
within their small compounds and kept shut up always in a small
room. There was no means of inspecting these cattle.
Mr. Branford said that his experience corresponded very
largely with that of Mr. Smith. About 4,000 cattle were maintained
at Hissar and these lived almost entirely out of doors except that
at times they were brought in to be given additional food in partly
covered yards during the colder weather. All these animals were
country-bred animals. Post-mortem examinations were always made.
During his twelve years' experience at the farm he had detected
only three cases of tuberculosis. Previously, while Colonel Farmer
was in charge of the farm, several cases of tuberculosis were detected
86
and Colonel Farmer claimed credit for eradicating the disease from
the farm.
Mr. MacGregor said that he had obtained sufficient evidence in
Bengal to make him feel sure that the question of prevalence should
be investigated. Out of 48 jail cattle tested by Colonel Raymond,
10 reacted. Four or five were suspicious on the first test and
eventually they reacted on retest.
Mr. Farbrother said that three cases of tuberculosis were reported
in the Bombay Presidency last year. One of these occurred in a
buffalo herd.
The Chairman stated that while he was in the Bombay Presidency
a strongly worded circular had been issued asking those concerned
to pay particular attention to the investigation of the possibility
of the occurrence of tuberculous lesions in cattle.
Mr. Hickey stated that in the United Provinces investigations
had been carried out in two centres, namely, at the slaughter
houses at Cawnpore and at Allahabad, and about 3 per cent. of the
animals admitted for slaughter were found affected with tuberculosis.
Recently, a horse which was suspected to be suffering from surra
died and was proved to be affected with tuberculosis. The cattle
found to be affected in the slaughter houses were mostly old animals
and the lesions discovered were small.
Mr. Ware said that he would like to know if it would be of use
to carry out investigations on the prevalence of the disease by
testing cattle by means of tuberculin. During the last two months
he had tested 60 cattle, and four were reported positive, but the
disease had not yet been confirmed by post-mortem examination.
Mr. Fletcher asked Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson if it had come
to his knowledge that recently it had been suggested that cattle
should be used as traps to attract mosquitoes away from human
beings and that for this purpose they should be kept in human
dwellings. He wondered what effect this would have upon the
problem.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson replied that it was beyond doubt
that mosquitoes did prefer cattle, but it was about as unlikely that
cattle would have any more effect in diminishing the number of
cases of malaria than the keeping of cats would have upon the
incidence of plague. In certain districts cattle had proved a factor
in the spread of malaria by bringing in with them, on their return
from their work from the vicinity of irrigation canals, a number of
mosquitoes to human dwellings.
Mr. Hewlett stated that he had experienced considerable difficulty
in applying the tuberculin test on account of the enormous fluctua-
87
tions that took place normally in the temperatures of cattle during
the hot weather.
Mr. Edwards explained that it was now considered advisable
to control the results obtained by the subcutaneous test by perform-
ing simultaneously the so-called ocular or ophthalmic, and the
intracutaneous or intradermic, tests. He explained to the meeting
the methods of performing these tests. The intracutaneous test,
which simply involved the injection of a small quantity of concen-
trated tuberculin into one of the anal, or caudal, folds of skin and
observing the occurrence of a sustained thickening in the injected
fold, was now considered to be very reliable confirmatory method of
testing.
The Chairman stated that he had had experience in testing
cattle by means of the subcutaneous test at Lahore, but he had
failed to obtain reliable results on account of the uncertain tem-
peratures. He considered that the anal test carried out concurrently
would be an ideal form of testing.
Mr. Cameron confirmed the views of Colonel Walker with regard
to the unreliability of the subcutaneous test from his experience in
Burma. According to the present arrangements all cattle imported
had to be segregated for a month and tested. He hoped that the
tail test would enable him to obtain more reliable information.
Mr. Wilson asked if in these cases where the subcutaneous test
had been unreliable, on account of temperature fluctuations, blood
examination had been made beforehand as it was his impression
that these great fluctuations might be caused by blood infection.
The Chairman stated that he had made examinations and no
blood parasites were found.
Mr. Cameron said that no such examinations were made in the
cases he had in mind.
Mr. Edwards said that the Muktesar laboratory could readily
supply concentrated tuberculin for the anal test on request, and that
the cost of the material used for each injection would be small.
After further discussion the meeting appointed a small committee
consisting of Colonel Pallin, Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson,
Messrs. Branford and Smith, with Mr. Edwards as Secretary,
to draft a resolution embodying the views of the meeting. The
meeting subsequently unanimously endorsed the following resolu-
tion drafted by the committee :—
Resolution II (e)
The evidence available shows that tuberculosis is present in
cattle in. India but is insufficient to indicate to what extent
it prevails.
88
In view of the experience gained in other countries with regard
to the spread of infection in susceptible animals, it is clearly
indicated that steps should be taken to ascertain accurately the
prevalence of infection.
Research into the nature of the organisms responsible for the
disease and the relative susceptibility of the different breeds
of cattle in the country should be prosecuted forthwith. If
this research should indicate that tuberculosis is at present
rare among Indian cattle measures should be taken to eradi-
cate it and to limit as far as practicable the introduction of
the disease from outside sources.
The Conference is of opinion that these measures are urgently
demanded by reason of the grave dangers to the live-stock of
the country, the purity of the milk supply, and the catastrophes
of bovine tuberculosis in children.
SUBJECT II (f).—PARASITOLOGY (HELMINTHOLOGY AND ENTO-
------) ; THE NECESSITY FOR INSTITUTING A SURVEY OF THE
INCIDENCE OF THE GROSSER PAEASITES OF LIVE-STOCK IN INDIA
AND FOR THE FORMATION OF CENTRAL DEPARTMENTS TO
CONTROL WORK IN THIS CONNECTION.
The Chairman said : " We all recognize, I think, the importance
of further studies in parasitology and the subject is a very wide
one. At the last meeting a resolution was passed on the subject
which I will read to you. It runs as follows :—' That the meeting
is in favour of the creation of a separate organization for the study
of the insect parasites of men and animals, the connection with the
Civil Veterinary Department being on the line suggested by Mr.
Howlett in his notes.'
It is understood that the matter is still under the consideration
of the Government of India. We are very pleased to welcome
Mr. Bainbrigge Fletcher, the Imperial Entomologist, amongst, us,
and I will invite him to tell us if he has any information to give
regarding the formation of a central organization. At the Punjab
Veterinary College a separate chair has been established for parasi-
tology and an Indian professor has been recently deputed to England
for further study in the subject. He is first going to the Molteno
Institute at Cambridge to study under Professor Nuttall. I found
it very difficult to determine where to send him as special courses
in veterinary parasitology are almost non-existent at present."
Mr. Ware, who had circulated his views in a note, stated that
he was particularly interested in the condition of affairs with regard