NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
44
Mr. MacGregor stated that the course of training for Veterinary
Assistants could probably be undertaken at the colleges, as all
that seemed to be required was to resuscitate the enthusiasm of
men who had lost touch with their colleagues on account of their
isolation in the Mofussil.
Mr. Hewlett thought that a course of training should be insti-
tuted for the best type of Veterinary Assistant at the commence-
ment of his career, if he displayed any enthusiasm in this direction,
and he suggested that a course might be given to such men for
five or six months at Muktesar.
Mr Cameron considered that it would be better before dealing
with the question of post-graduate training to settle upon the
details of a three years' course of study, and that the discussion
under this heading might be postponed until the decisions of the
committee appointed were available.
After some discussion it was resolved to refer the details under
the whole of Section C to the consideration of the committee
appointed.
As the Committee was unable, however, to complete the labours
allotted to it, the Chairman subsequently proposed the following
resolutions to the meeting, as they appeared to him to embody
the views of the members. The resolutions, which were carried
unanimously, were as follows:—
Resolution I (c)
(1) Post-graduate courses for Veterinary Assistants should
be instituted at all the existing colleges: the syllabus
for these courses should be approved by the Board of
Studies.
(2) The institution of post-graduate courses of study at Muktesar
and elsewhere for Provincial officers is approved by this
conference, and the curricula for these courses should
be examined by the Board of Studies.
(3) Imperial officers should be given facilities for taking post-
graduate courses at Muktesar and abroad.
45
PART II.—EPIZOOTIC DISEASES.
SUBJECT II (a).-ANTHRAX. (1) PREVALENCE AMONG LIVE-STOCK
IN INDIA; (2) THE NECESSITY OF INSTITUTING LEGISLATION
TO DEAL WITH THE DISEASE; SCOPE AND NATURE OF SUCH
MEASURES.
The Chairman said: "As you are well aware anthrax was one of
the first diseases to be recognized as being due to a specific organism.
At one time a number of other diseases including hæmorrhagic
septicæmia were classified as anthrax in India, and it was not
until 1904 that I was instrumental in obtaining a separate heading
in our statistical tables for hæmorrhagic septicæmia. We all
know that the mortality in cattle from hæmorrhagic septicæmia
far exceeds that from anthrax, and most of us will probably agree
that anthrax does not cause grave mortality in animals in India
as compared with several other epizootic diseases. We know that
some Indian cattle appear to possess a considerable degree of
immunity also. We must admit that it exists in most parts of the
country, however, and for that reason it is a real and potential
danger particularly from the industrial point of view. It will be
interesting to learn the experience of members of the conference
in respect to the prevalence of the disease in the various parts of
the country represented by them.
"Granted that measures are necessary for the protection of
workers, as recommended by the Advisory Committee, convened
by the Third International Labour Conference, the question is what
can be done in India.
"Colonel Hutchinson was a member of the Committee which
sat in London last December and we shall be very glad to hear
what suggestions he has to make."
Mr. Edwards, as sponsor of this section, summarized from
the Government of India files the efforts which had recently been
made by the Government of India to introduce legislation to combat
anthrax infection in India. In 1920 the Karachi Chamber of
Commerce had become much exercised on account of representa-
tions made to them by the Karachi Wool Association with regard
to the reported presence of anthrax in sheep in Sind and the possi-
bility that the Home authorities were contemplating measures
which would have for their ultimate effect the prohibition of impor-
tation of Indian hair, wools and hides. The advice of the Superin-
tendents, Civil Veterinary Department, of the Bombay Presidency
and of Sind, Baluchistan, and Rajputana was sought by the Govern-
D
46
ment of the Bombay Presidency, who referred the matter to the
Commerce Department of the Government of India. It was then
referred to the Revenue and Agriculture Department and after
examination of the conditions existing in India, the Secretary
drafted a Bill on the lines of the Glanders and Farcy Act for dealing
with the disease. The Bill was next forwarded to him (the speaker)
for technical opinion, and advice was submitted upon the peculiar
problems connected with the institution of proper measures of
anthrax control based upon the general experience of other countries
in this respect. In particular, the essential differences in the
nature of measures designed with the object of eradicating the
two diseases, glanders and anthrax, were pointed out, for in the
former the living, usually chronically, affected animal was the point
of attack, whereas in the latter disease the carcase of the dead
animal was mainly to be considered. It was explained that from
the general experience in regard to anthrax it would undoubtedly
be found that the disease had a much wider prevalence in India
than was evident from the statistics furnished in the reports of the
Civil Veterinary Department if a proper system of reporting deaths
from this disease were adopted. He related the experiences which
had been published in connection with the spread and prevalence
of the disease in Argentina and in South Africa, in particular, where
it had rapidly assumed the position of the most important infectious
disease of cattle in the country. He understood that the condi-
tions which had made for the widespread and even epizootic pre-
valence of the disease in these countries obtained to a marked
degree in numerous localities in India, and in view of this circum-
stance he had recommended the insertion of a clause which would
enable Local Governments to enforce vaccination in the scene
of considerable outbreaks. Unfortunately, the matter of legisla-
tion was now in abeyance, at the instigation of the Honourable
Member of the above department. Again, the speaker read
extracts from a lecture upon the subject of anthrax control given
recently by Major-General Sir John Moore, late Director of the
Army Veterinary Services in India, at a Meeting of the Royal
Society of Medicine in London. It would appear from this address
that the lecturer considered there was no excuse for delay in the
institution of legislative measures for the control of the disease
in India. While he (Sir John Moore) served at the headquarters
of the Government of India he had submitted a comprehensive
draft of such a measure for dealing with anthrax, together also
with detailed drafts of measures for controlling other infectious
diseases of animals, to the Government of India. Having in
mind the probable outcome of the deliberations of the Special
Anthrax Committee of the International Labour Organization of
47
the League of Nations, the evidence already available with regard
to the incidence of anthrax in India, together with the economic
situation that would arise from the adoption by importing
countries of prohibitionary measures in regard to Indian exports
of wool, hair, and hides, it appeared that the time was fully ripe
for the introduction of legislation to deal with this disease.
Legislation of this kind would have for its immediate effect
the testing of the machinery represented by the Indian Civil
Veterinary Department; the strengthening of this machinery
to cope with this disease, although it would undoubtedly prove
economically beneficial in itself, would prove to be of incal-
culable benefit in controlling concurrently the manifold epizootics
of great domestic economic concern. He believed that a compre-
hensive measure in the form of a Diseases of Animals Act would
be the best form of primary legislation, whereunder certain infec-
tious diseases, of which anthrax formed a concrete example, could
be scheduled as necessity arose. Orders could be formulated by
Provincial Governments then for the application of measures
concerning the particular disease. In order to secure uniformity
in action throughout the country it would be well for a technical
conference to draw up a set of model regulations in regard to each
disease for the guidance of Provincial Governments.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson said that he was peculiarly
interested in this disease on account of the fact that it was trans-
missible from animals to men, and it went to prove that the problem
of disease was one and indivisible whether affecting men, animals
or plants. The incidence of anthrax infection in man was
undoubtedly rare, but the rarity of the infection was no argument
against the adoption of stringent measures of control. He stated
this in particular as in hydrophobia, for example, costly measures
of control were in vogue. Four Pasteur institutes were maintained
for the purpose of preventive treatment in India, whereas in regard
to cholera, which occurred in infinitely greater distribution, resources
for combating the infection were much smaller although it might
be safely said that if the amount of money spent for the control
of hydrophobia were spent on cholera, much greater benefit would
accrue to the country at large. Another point of importance was
that any measures which were instituted for controlling anthrax
would likewise be of great benefit in providing organization for the
control of other diseases. Human anthrax in India was very rare,
so far as he could gather. From the very few cases that were on
record directly due to infection from animals it would appear that
the majority discovered were through infection from shaving
brushes. The rarity of the disease in India, however, was not
by any means universal. In some other countries the disease was
D2
48
comparatively common. He gave some statistical summaries and
such statistics could be divided up as follows:—(1) Human infec-
tion due to dealing with wool, including goat hair; (2) due to
handling hides and skins, bone-meal, hairs, hoofs, and other hairs
such as horse hair and pig bristles. In regard to (1) the quantity
of wool supposed to be infected represented only a small percentage
of the total wool production. The wool production of the world
amounted to 2,500 million pounds and on examination it was
estimated that only about 120 million pounds, or about 5 per cent.,
was infected. But it had to be remembered that 50 per cent. of
this infected wool was derived from India. This did not mean to
imply that the wool was actually produced in India, as some of
it reached India from trans-frontier provinces and was ex-
ported from India, and was designated in the market as Indian
wool. The percentage of infection among people who dealt with
this infected wool was very considerable. About 90 per cent. of
the total wool reached Liverpool. The major portion was used
in England chiefly at Bradford, but a small portion was sent to
France and to the United States of America. During the last ten
years there had been 405 cases of human anthrax in England. In
the United States of America the disease from handling wool
appeared to be rare, while in France 108 cases had been detected
in the same period. Infection of East Indian goat hair was found
in 33 per cent. of samples examined; of East Indian Kashmere in
19 per cent., and of East Indian wool in 11.6 per cent.
The incidence of anthrax in England led to trouble with labour
and the Government were forced to take action. The result was
the Anthrax Order of 1919 which practically prohibited the impor-
tation of East Indian wool unless it had been disinfected. A com-
mittee was appointed to investigate the problem of disinfection
and a very efficient process had been discovered. This process,
however, added a cost of 2½d. per pound to raw wool. The addi-
tional cost affected the manufacturers in England so seriously that
they could not undertake to carry out the process unless other
countries also adopted the same measure. The question of com-
pulsory universal disinfection was therefore placed before the
International Labour Office of the League of Nations, and it was
suggested that the importation of suspected or scheduled wool
into all countries should be prohibited unless disinfection was
adopted. When it comes to be considered that the adoption of
such a measure in India is confronted by almost insurmountable
difficulties, particularly in view of the fact that wool traverses
almost the whole range of the Himalayas through 15 or 16 channels,
the problem of disinfection of all wool entering the country becomes
impossible. At the International Labour Conference in 1921 a
49
resolution was passed that the International Labour Office should
appoint a committee of experts to advise on the question of the
prevention of anthrax in all its aspects. It was also pointed out
that wool exported from India lost in the process of disinfection
55 per cent. of its weight and this loss meant gross adulteration
or a very dirty wool. A great deal of the wool exported from India
is skin wool, i.e., wool taken from a dead animal, and thereby
the danger from anthrax is greatly enhanced. It ought to be
possible to prevent the exportation of skin wool. The danger of
infection from hides and skin was far more serious, and human
anthrax from handling hides and skin was practically worldwide.
India is not the only country involved in the export of infected
hides and skins but takes a prominent position. The importance
of this source of infection lay not only in the direct danger of infec-
tion from the hides and skins but also indirectly on account of the
contamination of other objects from this source. In the United
States of America and Germany a large number of epidemics have
been recorded, due to the flooding of pasturage by streams into
which effluent from tanneries had been admitted. There were
also instances on record of infection being left behind in the ships
used for transporting these commodities, and grain and hay carried
subsequently in the vessels had caused epidemics among horses.
Infected bone-meal also gave rise to anthrax. One case had
been recently recorded in London, caused by the importation of
bone-meal from India. Soil infection also must be considered.
Infection from horse hairs was not a serious one as far as India
was concerned. The offending countries in this respect were Russia
and Siberia.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson then related that he had
attended the committee referred to, which met in December last,
and it considered firstly the problem of wool disinfection.
He considered that this question would again undoubtedly form
a part of the agenda of the International Labour Conference that
would meet in 1923 or 1924.
He gave an estimate of the large sums of money that would
need to be expended in completing the processes for the disinfection
of wool alone in India. Roughly about 120 million pounds of
wool would have to be dealt with yearly. The actual plant needed
for the disinfection would involve an initial expenditure amounting
to about half a million pounds and the recurring annual expendi-
ture would amount to from a quarter to half a million pounds
sterling. With regard to wool and hair the committee recom-
mended that all wool and hair liable to infection should be dis-
infected by an approved method before use industrially.
50
As regards horse hair and pig bristles a resolution was passed
to the effect that all such material must be disinfected before use
in industry.
The question of hides and skins was not taken up in detail, for
no process of disinfection is known at present which can be depended
on not to injure the hide for industrial purposes. Further
research was recommended. The question of eradication of animal
anthrax was referred to the International Agricultural Institute
at Rome.
It would appear from the above resolutions that India is now
faced with either the adoption of the compulsory disinfection
of all wool before it is used industrially, or the eradication of the
disease among animals by preventive measures. Disinfection
must be regarded as a confession of failure, and such failure was due
to the inadequacy of knowledge or to a lack of facilities for applying
such knowledge. In regard to anthrax prevention, knowledge
is sufficient for a policy of eradication, if sufficient money was
available for this purpose. It seemed therefore that the Indian
Veterinary Department had an unrivalled opportunity for pressing
for a reorganization sufficient to meet the necessity for preventing
disease. On the one hand Government is confronted with the
possibility of an unproductive expenditure on disinfection of about
half a million pounds sterling annually to save a few cases of human
anthrax. On the other hand, much smaller expenditure on the
prevention of the disease in animals would accomplish the elimina-
tion of human anthrax and at the same time improve the condi-
tion of stock in this country. The measures indicated were: early
notification of cases among animals, the efficient disposal of car-
cases, the limitation of movement of infected herds, and perhaps
preventive inoculation.
The policy of preventive inoculation against the disease must
be seriously considered. South Africa, as had been mentioned by
the previous speaker, was faced with this very serious problem,
and the Government of the Union has now sanctioned a campaign
which at first would cost £200,000 per annum. In regard to hides
and skins, there was no process of disinfection at present generally
accepted as efficient. More research was needed in order to evolve
a satisfactory method, and it seemed that the facilities for such
research in India were unrivalled.
In the neighbourhood of Bombay, for example, the industry
was concentrated in one area and the conditions were thus splendid
for observing the efficacy of disinfection. He recounted briefly
the process for the disinfection of infected wool as carried out at
Liverpool. The fundamental difficulty connected with this lay
51
in the fact that the resistant spore was embedded in a dense blood
clot. Throughout the process there was no handling of the wool.
The dust involved in opening bales was aspirated into the furnace.
The wool passed automatically through two tanks containing an
alkaline soap solution at a temperature of 112ºF. The wool was
pressed through rollers between each tank. After thorough scouring
in the alkaline soap solution the wool was passed through two dis-
infecting tanks containing 2.5 per cent. of formaldehyde at 102ºF.
The wool was pressed through rollers between each tank. The
wool was next dried in a current of air at a temperature of 160ºF.
The wool after drying was fit for use. The whole process occupied
one hour.
In the case of hides and skins many processes had been recom-
mended, but there was no process that the trade would accept
until by research it was shown possible to evolve a process which
effectively disinfected the hides and did not injure the skins. A
satisfactory process now appeared to have been evolved by a
practical tanner, by which the hides were subjected to the action
of a solution of perchloride of mercury and formaldehyde. More
research work upon the process was, however, needed before it
could be applied to the trade.
In the case of bone-meal the material was ground up and
subjected to the action of super-heated steam.
Mr. Cameron indicated the difficulties which had to be faced
in Burma and the steps which had to be taken in order to attempt
to solve the problem of anthrax control. In Burma contagious
diseases were dealt with by the Burma Village Rules that had to
be applied by the village communities, and under these rules a death
register was maintained in Lower Burma by the village headman
and every animal that died had to be reported to him and a rough
diagnosis given. The reporting agency had to be so primitive
because the Veterinary Assistants often had charge over an area
covering about 500 square miles and could not attend to indivi-
dual deaths. Where a disease was reported as contagious, it was
the duty of the village headman to report it to the Sub-divisional
Officer, who then reported it by telegraph to the Veterinary Adviser.
As anthrax assumed sporadic form most frequently it could not be
expected that village headmen were able to diagnose the condition.
The Sub-divisional Officer was unable to diagnose and the Veterinary
Assistant likewise was not competent to diagnose it. Moreover,
an animal might die at a distance of 200 miles from the railway.
The result was that the hides of such animals were taken off by the
owners of the animals and sold. Under the Village Rules it should
be stated that if a case was suspected to be anthrax the carcase
52
must be buried intact and slashed after it had been put into the
grave in order to prevent the subsequent digging up of the carcase.
In his opinion if all animals that die suddenly were buried merely
on suspicion of anthrax, their owners would be subjected to hard-
ship. On the other hand there were difficulties with regard to the
disposal of the carcase. It was stated in the Rules that if the carcase
could not be buried it must be burnt and it often happened in the
rains that water covered the ground to a depth of 3 feet or so,
so that carcases could not be buried and in such conditions it was
usually impossible to burn the animals.
Mr. MacGregor stated that he remembered that while he went
through his post-graduate course, anthrax organisms disappeared
within a few days from the bodies of guinea-pigs that had succumbed
after experimental infection with anthrax. He wondered whether
it would be possible to dispose of an animal effectively by blocking
up the natural orifices and protecting it against wild animals
so that the organism might in this manner disappear from the
carcase.
Mr. Cameron further stated that the Contagious Diseases Act
in England as amended by the Act of 1894 might well be taken
as the model of an Act to deal with animal diseases in India, and
he thought that Local Governments might be allowed to make
their own orders under it. In Burma the export trade in hides
was large and the owner of an animal was liable to a fine of Rs. 5
only if it was discovered that the hide had been removed from an
animal that had succumbed to a contagious disease. He con-
sidered that a fine of this magnitude was far too low. It was his
experience that when a large epizootic occurred in any locality,
the number of hides that came from this locality was very large.
The deaths in such an outbreak might be due to rinderpest, or
anthrax, or other contagious disease, and as the fine was so small
and the chances of detection almost infinitely small it was worth
the owner's while to run the risk of being fined Rs. 5 only consi-
dering that he might easily sell half a dozen hides without detection.
The hide firms always insisted that they had disinfected the hides
and they were free from anthrax, but no fine would divulge the
method of disinfection nor could they adduce proof that the hides
in question were free from disease.
Lieutenant-Colonel Hutchinson stated that in view of the
resolution passed by the committee he had previously dealt with,
a certificate would only be taken and recognized as effective in the
case of wool, if the process of disinfection adopted had been
approved by a special committee to be appointed under Interna-
tional Agreement.