NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
M. R.
MAHAJAN
221
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are due to Mr. B. K. Badami, Director, Civil Veterinary Depart-
ment, Hyderabad, for his helpful hints given from time to time. Thanks are
also due to Messrs. Narsingh Pershad, Veterinary Inspector, Mahbubnagar,
and S. Nurul Mohteda, Assistant Veterinary Surgeon, Hyderabad and Abdul
Khader Khan, Veterinary Assistant, Narayanpet, and all other officials of the
department who co-operated in the prosecution of this work.
REFERENCES
Annual Report of the Civil Veterinary Department, Hyderabad-Deccan, 1932-33,
1933-34 and 1934-35.
Annual Report of the Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar, 1935
and 1936.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, Assam, 1935-36.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, Bombay Presidency,
1933-34, 1934-35 and 1935-36.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, Central Provinces
1933-34, 1934-35 and 1935-36.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, Hyderabad State,
1932-33, 1933-34, 1934-35, 1935-36 and 1936-37.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, Punjab, 1933-34, 1934-35
and 1935-36.
Annual Report of the Veterinary Investigation Officer, United Provinces, 1935-36.
Edwards, J. T. (1928). Mem. Dept. Agri. Ind. Vet. Ser. 4, 1-100.
Mahajan, M. R, (1934). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. and Anim. Husb. 4, 242-246.
Sen, S. K. (1933). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. and Anim. Husb. 3, 1, 55-102.
OCCURRENCE OF LIVERFLUKE, FASCIOLA GIGANTICA,
IN THE LUNGS OF GOATS
BY
HAR DAYAL SRIVASTAVA, D.Sc.
Helminthologist (On special duty)
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar-Kumaun
(Received for publication on 8th June 1938)
OF the numerous helminth parasites infesting ruminants, the liver-
flukes are by far the most important. There are two species of liverflukes
which commonly infest ruminants in this country—Fasciola hepatica and
F. gigantica. The adult parasite lives in the bile ducts of the host and is res-
ponsible for the well-known serious disease called " liver-rot". The eggs
pass with the bile into the intestine and are voided with the faeces. The life-
history of these parasites is well known. The eggs hatch in the open under
suitable conditions of moisture and temparature and the miracidia penetrate
the intermediate host, which is usually a member of the family Lymnáeidae, in
which by the usual process a brood of cercariae is ultimately produced. The
cercariae come out of the snail and after a brief active period they encyst
on the available vegetation in water or on the surface of water itself. The
final host acquires the infection by the ingestion of the cysts with vegetation
or water. Inside the host the cystwall is digested and the young fluke directly
bores through the wall of the bowel and reaches the abdominal cavity. After
wandering about for some days it penetrates the surface of the liver and finally
settles down in the bile duct as an adult parasite.
In certain cases, usually in unsuitable host, the young flukes penetrate
through the intestinal wall into the blood vessels or lymph passages and are
carried to distant foci as ' erratic' parasites. They have been recovered
from blood-vessels, lungs, subcutaneous abscesses, ventricles of the brain and
from foci in and around the eye. Braun believes that the worms enter the
portal system and from there they may gain access to the other organs of the
body.
During the course of an examination of materials from goats suffering
from pulmonary strongylosis, which were received at this Institute through
( 223 )
224
Liver fluke, Fasciola gigantica, in the Lungs of Goats
the courtesy of Mr. S. R. Chaddha, Veterinary Investigation Officer, North-
West Frontier Province, the author observed the presence of eggs of
F. gigantica in one sample of nasal discharge. This finding was communicated
to Mr. Chaddha who, on subsequent examination, was able to recover
specimens of F. gigantica from the lungs of goats. The author also recovered
specimens of this fluke from a piece of lung of a goat received from Peshawar.
This appears to be the first record of the occurrence of liver-flukes in a-
typical focie in goats in this country.
STUDIES ON THE HELMINTH PARASITES OF INDIAN
POULTRY. PART III. THE OCCURRENCE OF TWO
SPIRURID STOMACH WORMS IN FOWLS*
BY
HAR DAYAL SRIVASTAVA, D.Sc.
Helminthologist (On special duty)
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar- Kumaun
(Received for publication on 8th June 1938)
THE spirurid nematodes of birds have received very little attention in
this country, notwithstanding their frequency and pathological significance.
In this paper the author records for the first time the occurrence of members
of two genera of spirurid worms, Cheilospirura and Tetrameres, in the gizzard
and stomach respectively of Indian fowls.
Superfamily.—Spiruroidea Railliet and Henry, 1915.
Family.—Acuariidae Seurat, 1913.
Genus.—Cheilospirura Diesing, 1861.
Cheilospirura hamulosa Diesing, 1861.
Representatives of this parasite were first met with in soft nodules
in the musculature of the gizzard of a fowl received from Delhi. Subse-
quently the worm has been found infesting two local fowls also. A
careful examination of the lining of the gizzard revealed the presence
of numerous small, round openings in all the three cases. The
parasites are small, white, slender worms, living in soft nodules
underneath the horny lining of the gizzard. The head has two large lateral
lips, each in the form of an isosceles triangle. Each lip has two lateral papillae
on the conical lobes ; a finger-like median lobe is also present. On the body
there are four cuticular double cordons which extend in an irregular, wavy
course some distance towards the posterior end. They do not anastomose or
recurve anteriorly. The males measure 10-14 mm. in length. There are
ten pairs of caudal papillae, four pairs are pre-anal and six post-anal. The
cloacal aperture is situated at a point 416-488µ from the posterior end. The
spicules are very dissimilar in shape and size. The posterior end of the male is
bent. The female specimens measure 16-25 mm. in length and have a pointed
posterior end. The vulva is situated slightly posterior to the middle of the
body length. The eggs measure 40-45 × 24.27µ. in size.
* Presented to the Section of Med. and Vety. Res. of the Indian Science Congress
1937, Hyderabad,
( 225 )
M
226
Helminth Parasites of Indian Poultry
This round-worm occurs in the gizzard of fowl and turkey in a number
of countries: North and South America, Australia, France, Italy and Russia.
The eggs are passed out with the faeces and hatch in the gut of the interme-
diate host, which according to Cram is a grasshopper. The larvae reach the
infective stage inside the grasshopper in about twenty-five days. The final
host acquires infection through, eating infected grasshoppers. In fowls the
worms force their way through the horny lining of the gizzard, usually in the
anterior part of the organ where the lining is softest. For a period of nineteen
days they remain on the surface of the muscular wall, under the lining. Be-
tween the 20th and 25th day they start to penetrate the wall and are found
with their heads embedded .in the muscles of the gizzard. Later on in
about seventy-six days, they attain sexual maturity and are located in cir-
cumscribed nodules with caseous contents.
These parasites produce soft nodules in the musculature of the gizzard
and thereby weaken it. They have some toxic effect on the host too. In
heavy infestations they produce emaciation, droopiness, weakness and anaemia.
The gizzard lining may be haemorrhagic and necrotic and the wall flabby.
Sometimes the gizzard is weakened to such an extent that a rupture in the form
of a large sac occurs. Owing to the location of the parasite in the final host
and the migratory habits of its intermediate host, treatment and prophylaxis
are obviously difficult.
Family.—Tetrameridae Travassos, 1914.
Genus.—Tetrameres Creplin, 1846.
Tetrameres fissipina Diesing, 1861.
Members of the genus Tetrameres and of related genera are unique among
nematodes in presenting marked sexual dimorphism. The females after co-
pulation enter the glands of the proventriculus and become globular in shape,
due to distension with eggs and are blood red in colour. The globular female
has two small projections on opposite sides, the cephalic and the caudal pro-
jections. The males, on the other hand, retain throughout life the usual elong-
ate and cylindrical nematode form and are found free in the lumen of the pro-
ventriculus. The fertilization usually takes place in the lumen of the pro-
ventriculus, though at times the males are known to follow the females into
the gland temporarily for copulation. The female comes to lie in the gland in
such a position that the tail protrudes into the duct of the gland to facilitate
the passage of the eggs, and the head is in the fundus of the gland to facilitate
feeding.
From a private communication from Mr. F. Ware, it is learnt that this
parasite occurs in certain Indian birds in the Madras Presidency, but it has
not been recorded so far. The parasite was first recovered from the proven-
triculus of a fowl in 1936. Subsequently it has been found to be a very common
parasite in a number of ducks received from Peshawar. In their morphological
and anatomical characters, the specimens conformed to Cram's description of
T. fissipina.
H. D.
SRIVASTAVA
227
The parasite has been reported to occur in fowls, ducks, pigeons,
turkeys and a large number of wild water-birds. Observations on its life-
history have been made by Linstow [ 1894 ], Rust [ 1908 ], Seurat [1914] and
Sugimoto and Nishiyama [ 1937 ]. A number of invertebrates are known
to serve as its intermediate hosts : such as ' water flea' Daphnia pulex,
' Sand flea' Gammarus pulex, grasshoppers, cockroaches and earthworms.
Cram [ 1931 ] has demonstrated that grasshoppers serve as intermediate
hosts of T. americanus. The eggs are passed out with the faeces and on being
ingested by suitable intermediate hosts, the larvae reach the infective stage
inside the body cavity in about nine to twenty-eight days. When the inter-
mediate host is eaten by the final host, the infective larvae are freed in the pro-
ventriculus and enter the glands of Leiberkühn. The larvæ attain maturity
in about ninety days.
The worms suck blood but the greatest damage is done when the young
worms penetrate into the wall of the proventriculus, setting up marked
irritation and inflammation, which may prove fatal. Due to congestion the
stomach wall becomes greatly thickened and inelastic. Considerable emaci-
ation and anaemia are observed in heavily parasitised birds. Treatment is
ineffective, but control measures may be tried with a view to keep off the
intermediate hosts.
The author is grateful to the Director and the Pathologist of the Imperial
Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar-Kumaun, for their kind encourage-
ment.
REFERENCES
Cram, E. B. (1927). Bull. (140) U. S. Nat. Mus., Wash., 17, 465.
–––––––––(1930).
Fourth World's Poultry Congress, London, 1930, 527-534.
–––––––––(1931).
Tech. Bull. No. 227, U. S. Dept. Agri., Wash., 1-27.
Creplin, F. C. H. (1846). Arch. f. Naturg., Berlin, 1, 129-160.
Diesing, K. M. (1861). Sitzber. Akad. Wiss. Wien. Math. Naturw. Kl., 42, 595-736.
Linstow, Van. O. (1894). Jenaische Ztschr.f. Naturw. Jena, 28, 328-342.
Rust, (1908). Veroffentl. a. d.j. Vet. Ber. d. beamt. Tierarzte Preuss, Berlin, 6, 30.
Seurat, L. G. (1914, 1). Compt. Rend. Soc. Biol. (Paris) (Hunee 66), 76, 390-393.
(1914, 2). Bull. biol. de la France et de la Belg., Paris and London
(1918), 52, 344-378.
Srivastava, H. D. (1937). Proc. Ind. Sci. Gong. 1937, Section VIII, Abst. No. 48.
Sugimoto, M., and Nishiyama, S. (1937). J. Jap. Soc. Vet. Sci. 16, No. 3, 305-313.
Travassos, L. (1914). Mem. Inst. Osw. Cruz., 6, 150-162.
EPIDEMIC IN A CONTROLLED GUINEA-PIG COLONY
BY
K. D. MANOHAR, M. D.
Dept. of Pathology and Bacteriology, Seth G. S. Medical College, Parel, Bombay
(Received for publication on 11th March 1938)
WHILE supervising the animal house, the writer had an opportunity
of studying the course of an epidemic in guinea-pigs. The epidemic, though
natural as far as importation of the virulent organism was concerned, occurred
in a controllable colony, in which, as control measures, isolation of the healthy
and susceptible animals was immediately carried out and also the destruction
of the obviously sick animals.
The epidemic, therefore, resembled a human epidemic more or less modified
by the active interference of health authorities.
Weather considerations were important. After a very hot spell, rains set
in violently.
The animal house leaked badly and the animals were
soaked through. Feeding was naturally unsatisfactory, the food getting
sodden and dust laden within a few hours of distribution. The rapid de-
composition of food must also have diminished the available food considerably.
Flies had come in swarms. Such were the conditions when the epidemic
broke out. The first impression was that the food was the source of infection.
But on post mortem examination of animals, the intestines did not show in-
flammatory change while the lungs were definitely haemorrhagic and showed
broncho-pneumonic patches.
Considering the animals, about a month before the epidemic started,
one change was introduced for the safety of new-born guinea-pigs. The colony
was divided into two lots. In one there were the pregnant and the newly
delivered females with the new-born guinea-pigs. In the other were the rest
of the animals. Although separate from each other the animals necessarily
intermixed, as pregnant guinea-pigs from the common lot were transferred
to the special enclosure and the grown-up guinea-pigs as well as some of the
females were transferred back to the common lot.
This transfer of adult pregnant females to a special enclosure and the
retransferance of a large number of half-grown animals to the main enclosure
produced two communitites from the epidemiological point of view. In the
special enclosures there were few adults, potential carriers. The head of
potential infection was definitely low in this group.
In the common enclosure the conditions were exactly reversed. There
were larger number of adults, presumably the carriers and a few young half-
growns were constantly added. Here was a high head of infection and con-
stant introduction of fresh stock.
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230
Epidemic in a Controlled Guinea-Pig Colony
Lastly, the rate of multiplication was very rapid at this period and the
increase in the total number of animals, as well as the transfers from enclosure
to enclosure were frequent, exposing all animals to the infection.
The total number of guinea-pigs was :
Month
March
.
.
.
.
.
.
April
.
.
.
.
.
.
May
.
.
.
.
.
.
June
.
.
.
.
.
.
July
.
.
.
.
.
.
August
.
.
.
.
.
.
Population
231
231
250
304
240
251
Total deaths
15
15
11
155
44
..
Experimental
3
6
4
3
1
..
Average death rate which also includes deaths from experimental pro-
cedures from September 1936 to June 1937 was fifteen per month.
The increase in the population before the onset of the epidemic is significant
and compares very closely with the population figures and also reduction in the
number observed during June, July and August of 1936 when a similar epide-
mic had occurred.
Studying the details of the epidemic itself, like an air-borne epidemic, the
onset was sudden with hardly any noticeable pre-epidemic phase. Deaths
began to occur and the mortality rate very rapidly became high.
The first control measure was without any effect on the mortality rate.
The food, especially the greens, was carefully washed in tap water to remove
soil contamination, was spread out on sacking to remove excess of water
and then distributed. The enclosures were daily evacuated and swabbed
with crude phenol solution, but it was not possible to keep them dry.
This measure failed and the common lot was separated into two groups,
adults and half-growns. This produced a transitory fall in mortality
which again became the highest. Sixteen animals died on 25th June. As
a precautionary measure, six more moribund animals were destroyed.
The epidemic then rapidly declined.
In this phase between 11th June to 1st July, one hundred and fifty-five
animals died. Of these twenty-one were adults, three from special enclosure
and eighteen from the common lot. This mortality was practically proportion-
ate to adult population, in each enclosure. The figures regarding the new born
are rather unsatisfactory for some of them were found half devoured. Whether
these had first died of the infection and then been eaten, it is not possible to say.
Sixteen new-born guinea-pigs died in this period. The rest were the half-grown
K. D.
MANOHAR
231
—one hundred and eighteen. The epidemic had lost much of its virulence
when ultimately the animals were housed in protected rooms. Deaths were
still occurring and now the adults were the chief victims. It was also noticed
that several adults had to be rejected from experimental use as they showed a
definite fever and were very inactive. Several animals lost fur over wide areas
and a disabling arthritis and indolent ulcers were noticed in a number of ani-
mals. These animals were chiefly contributing to the steady mortality.
On 16th July a total of ten such animals were destroyed. Since this the death
rate has remained within the normal limits.
The present study is far from complete from the bacteriological view-
point. The bacteriological studies were confined to few smear and culture
examinations of freshly dead animals.
Smears were taken from haemorrhagic pneumonic patches, beads of puru-
lent material that could be obtained by squeezing the lungs, and from the
neighbourhood of swollen joints.
Blood films and cultures were examined from some of the febrile and mori-
bund animals. The results of these smear and culture examinations were as
follows :
Material
Blood .
Lung .
Joints .
No. of spe-
cimens
6
18
4
Smear
No. organisms 6 .
16 Streptococci found
in large numbers.
3 Streptococci found .
Culture
Streptococci obtained in one.
One pure growth of strep to and
3 strepto mixed with others.
3 Streptococci in pure culture.
The streptococci were of the long chain type and non-haemolytic. Since
streptococci of the same character were found in the majority of specimens
examined, it was concluded that the epidemic was due to streptococci.
Considered only numerically the epidemic appears to have run the usual
course of an air-borne infection. But a closer study reveals several peculiarities.
Firstly, the greatest incidence in the half-grown is peculiar. The new
born guinea-pigs were exposed to a minimal infection by contact with the
adults, and if the infection did not cause death amongst them, the animals
should have been immunised by the time they grew large enough to be trans-
ferred to the common lot. Such immunity was not induced.
Vaughan [1925] has quoted the observation on a streptococcal pneumonia
in guinea-pigs in which an epidemic killed off three successive lots of about
232
Epidemic in a Controlled Guinea-Pig Colony
one hundred and twenty-five guinea-pigs imported into a laboratory. Com-
plete extermination of a host race is very rare in epidemiological observation.
It is a biological disaster both for the parasite and the host.
The occurrence of chronic extra-pulmonary lesions in the adults in the
post-epidemic phase points to a wide dissemination of the infection with the
establishment of some type of mass immunity.
The other epidemiological consideration worth noting is the effect of
weather and various hygenic measures. Epidemiologists still have not agreed
regarding the effect of weather conditions on the spread of infection.
In regard to air-borne acute infections, several studies from school dor-
mitories and barracks have definitely shown that overcrowding is a very
important factor in the spread of the infection.
Haemolytic streptococci have been recovered from the air of certain
wards and the number has shown a definite fluctuation with the number of
occupants in the ward.
In the present study a distinct crowding of animals coincided with the
onset of inclement weather. The latter was probably an important factor in
setting up the epidemic for an almost equal number of guinea-pigs had been
reached before, and is again being reached, without the occurrence of an
epidemic.
The weather, though it played a possible role in initiating the epidemic,
had no influence on its subsequent course. The epidemic came to a natural
termination although the weather and the housing conditions remained in the
same unsatisfactory state.
Lastly, the complete failure of the various hygienic measures, although
disappointing, suggest the need for an unbiassed revaluation of these measures
in the control of human epidemics due to air-borne infection.
REFERENCE
Vaughan, V. C. (1925). Epidemiology, Vol I, Chapters on Pneumonia and Air-borne
Diseases.
TWO NEW TREMATODES OF THE FAMILY
MONORCHIDAE ODHNER, 1911, FROM INDIAN
MARINE FOOD FISHES. 1
BY
HAR DAYAL SRIVASTAVA, D.Sc.
Helminthologist (On special duty)
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar-Kumaun
(Received for publication on 8th June 1938)
(With Plates XX and XXI)
So far only one representative—Asymphylladora indica Srivastava,
1935,—of the Family Monorchidae Odhner, 1911, has been described from an
Indian host. In this paper are described one new species of the genus Proc-
totrema Odhner, 1911, and a new genus—Hurleytrema—which is unique
amongst the members of the family in a number of remarkable features.
The author is grateful to the Director and the Pathologist of the Imperial
Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar-Kumaun, for their kind encour-
agement.
Genus—Proctotrema Odhner, 1911.
Proctotrema Odhneri, n. sp.
Host.—Equula daura Cuv.
Habitat.—Intestine.
Locality.—Karachi, Arabian Sea.
Only two mature specimens of this species were obtained from the intestine
of a marine fish which was obtained from the Arabian Sea and examined at
Karachi in June 1936. The parasite has a fusiform and spinose body.
Cutaneous gland cells are well developed in the pre-acetabular part of the body.
In permanent mounts the trematodes measure 2. 0—2. 4* in length and 0. 58
in maximum breadth, which occurs across the level of the middle of vitellaria.
The sub-terminal oral sucker of 0. 12—0. 16 in diameter is followed by a 0. 04—
0.09 long prepharynx, a pharynx of 0.04—0.08×0. 05—0.06 size and an
oesophagus of 0. 12—0. 2 length. The oesophagus bifurcates into two narrow
caeca which end blindly a little in front of the hinder end. The acetabulum
measures 0. 08—0. 11 in diameter and is situated at the junction of the second
and third fifths of the body length.
1 Presented to the Section of Vety. Research of the Indian Science Congress, 1938,
Calcutta.
* All measurements are in mm.
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