NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
202
Normal Worm Burden of Goats
Two goats in which the intensity of infestation was 2,500 in one and 3,000 in
the other, shewed pathological changes, confined to a certain portion of the
duodenum and consisting of thickening of its wall, the formation of minute
petechial marks and the presence of a slimy mucoid material on its mucous
membrane.
Bunostomum trigonocephalum (Rudolphi 1808), one of the commonest
hookworms of ruminants, was encountered in 20 goats of which 2 had 8 para-
sites each, 10 had about 50 each, six had 50 to 100 and two animals had 400
parasites each. In every case the parasites occurred in the jejunum or ileum
attached to the mucous coat and, apart from local reactions at the sites of
attachment, no marked pathological changes were discernible.
(c) Caecum and large intestine
Oesophagostomum columb anum (Curtice 1890), the common'nodular worm'
of sheep and goats in this country, occurred in exactly half the number of goats
examined. Differential count of this parasite revealed a wide range of varia-
tions in number from 7 to 500 worms. The degree of infestations varied from
mild to moderate and heavy, and the number of goats involved in each category
being 30, 24 and 6 respectively. Parasitic nodules containing developmental
forms of this nematode occurred on the serous coat of the colon and caecum of
13 animals with a mild degree of infestation with the mature forms of the
parasite. Goats with heavy infestations revealed thickening and corrugations
of the mucosa of caecum and colon, not unlike the lesions of Johne's disease of
cattle.
Trichuris ovis (Abildgaard 1795) was the most frequently occurring species,
as it was present in 93 goats out of 120 examined. The number present in
each animal was observed to extend over a wide range from 2 in one goat to
3,000 in a few heavily infested animals. Briefly, 53 animals showed light in-
festation, 35 were modertately infested and five showed heavy infestations. No
pathological changes of note were seen as a result of infestation with this
parasite.
REMARKS
An important observation based on this survey is that all pathogenic
forms of helminth parasites are represented in normal goats. Species of the
genera Chabertia, Cooperia and Nematodirus recorded from sheep in this
country [Bhalerao, 1935] were not encountered in any of the goats examined.
No specimens of Ostertagia were found, although Bhalerao [1935] records the
presence of 0. circumcincta from goats at Mukteswar. Similarly, Strongy-
loides papillosus (Wedl 1856) was not recorded from any of the goats, al-
though Thaper [1939] records its presence in both goats and sheep from
Lucknow.
The dominant species was Trichuris ovis, infesting 93 goats. This was
closely followed by Haemonchus contortus Next in descending order of fre-
quency was Oesophagostomum columbianum which occurred in 50 per cent of
the goats examined. The remaining species, following a descending scale of
frequency, were Stilesia globipunctata, Cysticercus tenuicollis, Trichostrongylus
colubriformis, Bunostomum trigonocephalum, paramphistomes, Stilesia vittata
and Avitellina centripunctata, A. lahorea, Fasciola gigantica, A. sudanea and
P. G. PANDE 203
Schistosoma indicum, Moniezia expansa ; and finally, Protostrongylus
rufescens, Varestrongylus pneumonicus, Stilesis hepatica and Coenurus cerebralis
were each found on one occasion.
This survey reveals the frequency and intensity of occurrence of these
parasites in certain districts of the United Provinces, but as the climatic and
topographical conditions exerting a powerful influence on these aspects of hel-
minthic infestation vary greatly in different parts of the United Provinces and
from province to province in this country, more work on these lines in this and
other provinces appears to be necessary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The author is grateful to Mr T. J. Egan, I. V. S., Director, Veterinary
Services, United Provinces, for providing facilities in the execution of this
work.
REFERENCES
Balwant Singh (1938). Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., Bengal
Bawa, H. S. (1938). Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., Sind and Ajmer-Marwara
—(1939).
Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., Sind and Ajmer-Marwara
Bhalerao, G. D. (1935). Imp. Coun. Agri. Res.Sci. Monograph No. 6
—(1940).
Proc. 1th. Ani. Husb. Wing Mect., Izatnagar
Chadha, S. R. (1937). Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., N. W. F. Province
Pande, P. G. (1939). Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., United Provinces
Sahai, L. (1938). Ann. Rept. Vet. Invest. Off., Bihar
Taylor, E. L. (1934). Vet. Rec. 14, 18. 474
Thapar, G. S. (1939). Ann. Rept. Helmin. Res. Sch., United Provinces
HYPOMAGNESAEMIA IN HEIFER CALVES
BY
S. N. RAY, M.Sc. (CAL.), PH.D. (CANTAB.)
Assistant Research Officer, Animal Nutrition Section, Imperial Veterinary
Research Institute, Izatnagar
(Received for publication on 16 June 1941)
(With one text-figure)
T HE importance of magnesium in animal dietary is now well recognized in
the light of the work done by Kruse et al. [1932]. On a low magnesium diet,
the deficiency of this mineral in rats [Kruse et al., 1932] and in dogs [Orent
et al., 1932] manifests itself generally by trophic disturbances, nutritive failure
and by an increased irritability of the nervous system which is characterized
by tetany with vasodilation. Even rations containing ten times as much
magnesium (10 to 20 parts per million) as those producing these extreme
deprivation effects, induce a condition of nervous instability [Greenberg and
Tufts, 1935]. Rats on such rations are thrown into convulsions on the
application of a suitable stimulus. The plasma magnesium content of these
animals, while invariably lower than the content of the controls, falls within
the range of variation which has been reported for normal animals.
The importance of magnesium in the diet of young calves has also been
recognized. When attempts are made to raise calves on milk alone, failure
generally results. The animals after a few months are found to suffer from
tetany and convulsions [Duncan et al. 1935]. Very young animals may
survive several tetanic seizures but animals older than six months usually
succumb to the first attack. This type of tetany is also associated with low
values for the magnesium content of blood [Huffman and Robinson, 1926]
and is relieved by the administration of magnesium salts [Huffman and
Duncan, 1936]. Evidently the quantitative requirement of magnesium is
higher in calves than in rats, for the latter may be successfully reared on whole
milk with supplements only of iron, copper and manganese [Kemmerer
et al., 1932].
Low blood magnesium values are also met with in cows suffering from the
disease known as grass tetany or lactation tetany [Sjollema, 1930]. This
disease occurs principally during the first two weeks after cows are allowed
to graze. Tetanic contractions of various muscles are the chief symptoms but
the tetany of magnesium deficiency, as seen in rats, and grass tetany are
not completely identical, for while serum calcium remains normal in the
former, in the latter it is subnormal [Sjollema and Seekles, 1930 ; Seekles
et al., 1931]. Allcroft and Green [1938] have also disproved the obligate asso-
ciation of hypomagnesaemia with grass tetany, for they found that, whereas
animals showing symptoms of grass tetany had a low serum-magnesium value,
animals in the same herd having still lower magnesium values in winter did
not show any sign of tetany. Their view was that parturition occurring at or
near a season of low blood magnesium content precipitates the onset of grass
tetany. This view is contradicted by Sjollema [1932], who found that in 357
cases of grass tetany, 55 per cent occurred more than six weeks after calving.
Intravenous injections of calcium and magnesium salts have been found to
204
S. N. RAY 205
relieve the symptoms of this disease. The reason for this precipitation of
tetany after the animals are allowed to graze on pasture, which is rich in
magnesium content, is inexplicable.
Hirschfelder [1933] observed a low concentration of magnesium in
the serum of patients suffering from eclampsia or epilepsy. McNeille [1934]
claims that improvement in these conditions can be effected by injections of
magnesium salts.
The writer's interest in the relation between hypomagnesaemia and
convulsive seizures was aroused by an outbreak of cases of fainting ' fits'
in some of the experimental animals of the Imperial Veterinary Research
Institute, Mukteswar. The animals belonged to two experimental groups.
The first consisted of five heifers, three on a vitamin A-deficient ration and
the other two animals on the same ration plus 50 mg. of carotene per head
per day. The vitamin A-deficient animals received daily 6 lb. wheat straw
and 3 lb. of a concentrate mixture ' A' composed of: wheat bran 20 parts,
oats 25 parts, barley 25 parts, cotton seed meal 15 parts and mustard oil
cake 15 parts. In addition, each animal received 1 oz. of calcium carbonate
daily and 1 oz. of common salt once a week. The other group was also com-
posed of five heifers, three of which were on a protein deficient ration, while
the other two, serving as controls, received 3/4 lb. casein in addition to the
deficient ration. Each animal on the protein deficient ration received daily
7 lb. wheat straw, 1 oz. calcium carbonate and 3 lb. of a concentrate mixture
composed of: yellow maize 34 parts, oats 16 parts, barley 16 parts and molasses
33 parts. In addition, 1 oz. of common salt was given once a week to the
animals. All the animals, except one of those on the vitamin A-deficient
ration suffered from these ' fits '. Moreover, another heifer on a low phos-
phorus and high calcium ration was also showing similar symptoms. A
tabular statement of the various animals under observation together with
their daily intake of rations is given in Table I.
TABLE I
Statement of the groupings of the animals under observation and the amounts of
ration given to them daily
A. Vitamin A-deficient group
No. of
animals
H. C. 45
H. C. 46
H. C. 47
H. C. 48
H. C. 49
Concentrate
mixture
3 lb. mixture'A'
Do. .
Do. .
Do. .
Do. .
Wheat-
bhoosa
6 lb.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
CaCO 3
1 oz.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Common
salt
per
week
1 oz.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Carotene
Nil
Do.
Do.
50 mg.
Do.
Remarks
Had fits
No fits
Had fits
Do.
Do.
206
Hypomagnesaemia in Heifer Calves
B. Protein deficient group
No. of
animals
H. C. 50
H. C. 51
H. C. 52
H. C. 53
H. C. 54
Concentrate
mixture
3 lb. mixture ' B '
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Wheat-
bhoosa
6 1b.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
CaCO 3
1 oz.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Common
salt
per
week
1 oz.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Carotene
Nil
Do.
Do.
¾lb.
Do.
Remarks
Had fits
Do.
Do.
Do.
Do.
Usually the animals used to consume the whole amounts of food given to
them.
Symptoms
The animals used to fall down suddenly in a dead faint, with limbs stiff,
legs rigid and eyes half closed. There was no struggling or movement at all.
The breathing was laboured and occasionally there was foaming at the mouth.
The temperature was normal. Insensibility used to last only for five or six
minutes except in the case of one animal (H. C. 47) whose case will be described
in detail later. After the' fit' the animals used to get up of their own accord
but continued to show marked excitement for sometime. They used to feed
regularly and the amount taken was more or less normal. Their coats remain-
ed glossy in appearance.
It was very soon evident that nutrition was an etiological factor in this
malady. One of the animals (H. C. 47) was having these ' fits ' more
frequently than the others. During the month following the observation of the
first seizure, it fainted 13 times and the duration of the 13th seizure was half-
an-hour, as contrasted with four or five minutes in the case of the other animals.
It was, moreover, the only animal which was found to be losing condition
rapidly and it was decided to change its roughage from wheat straw to freshly
cured hay. From the day the hay was started to be given to the animal the
' fits ' topped. Ten days subsequently wheat straw was again substituted.
After a month the animal began having' fits ' again and suddenly one day
it collapsed and died. Post-mortem examination did not reveal any significant
macroscopic changes.
The only common factor in the diet of all the animals was wheat straw.
This straw was practically free from carotene, hence it was at first thought
that the ' fits ' were due to vitamin A deficiency. The occurrence, however,
of the malady in the animals getting carotene (vitamin A deficiency control
group) as well as in the animals of the protein deficiency group, which were
receiving yellow maize as part of their concentrate mixture, appeared to dis-
count any connection between vitamin A deficiency and the fits. However,
in order to make certain that the condition was not one of avitaminosis-A,
S. N. RAY 207
all the animals in the protein deficiency experiment as well as one of the control
animals in the vitamin deficiency group were given a daily dose of 4 oz. of a
superior quality cod liver oil. Nevertheless, although the medication was
continued for a month, these animals still continued to have ' fits ', thus
proving that the symptoms had no connection with a vitamin A insufficiency.
The chemical examination of the blood revealed a normal level of calcium
in the serum. This ruled out any possibility of the ' fits ' being due to
calcium deficiency. This result was expected as the composition of the diets
contained sufficient calcium and phosphorus in the proportion of 2 : 1. On
the other hand, the concentration of magnesium in the blood was found to be
definitely low in all the animals. The figures in Table II will illustrate these
points.
TABLE II
Concentration of calcium and magnesium in the bloodserum of experimental
heifers
No. of animals
H. C. 45 . . .
H. C. 47 . . .
H. C. 48 . . .
H. C. 49 . . .
H. C. 50. . .
H. C. 51 . . .
H. C. 52 . . .
H. C. 53 . . .
H. C. 54 . . .
H. C. 56. . .
Experimental group
Vitamin A deficient. . .
Do.
....
Do.
control ....
Do.
control ....
Protein deficient ....
Do
Do
Do. control
....
Do. control
....
Phosphorus deficient ...
Average....
Concentration in mg. per
100 c.c. serum
Calcium
11.6
11.0
9.7
11.9
8.9
11 .0
11 .0
11 .4
11 .3
12 .2
11.0
Magnesium
0 .79
1 .50
0 .81
1 .60
1 .03
1 .20
1 .20
1 .09
1 .00
1 .70
1 .19
The calcium determinations were conducted according to the method of
Kramer and Tisdall [1921]. The magnesium was precipitated from the filtrates
obtained from the calcium determinations as magnesium ammonium phosphate
and the magnesium calculated from the phosphorus content of the precipitate,
determined by Fiske and Subbarow's [1925] method.
208
Hypomagnesaemia in Heifer Calves
It will be seen that the calcium concentrations of the sera were all within
the normal concentrations usually recorded for such animals, the average value
being quite high. The magnesium concentrations on the other hand were
very low, when compared with the normal figures of 2 to 3 mg. per 100 c.c.
serum (average 2.414 mg.) as given by Duncan et al. [1940]. Indeed the figures
show some similarity with those found in animals suffering from grass tetany
[Sjollema, 1932] or in epileptic patients [Hirschfelder, 1933].
A closer correlation between the ' fits' and hypomagnesaemia was
further indicated by estimating the concentration of magnesium in the serum
before and during the fainting fits. The data is given in Table III.*
TABLE III
Concentration of calcium and magnesium in blood serum before, during and
immediately after the fainting fit, expressed in mg. per 100 c.c. serum
No. of animals
H. C. 47. .
H. C.48 . .
H. C. 49 . .
H. C. 50 . .
H. C. 52 . .
H. C. 53 . .
H. C. 56 . .
Before fit
Ca.
11.0
9.7
11.9
8.9
11.0
11.4
12.2
Mg.
1.5
0.81
1 .6
1.03
1.20
1.09
1.70
During fit
Ca.
9.2
9.7
8.8
9.7
8.9
11.2
10.0
Mg.
0.75
0.81
1.17
0.70
0.81
0.93
0.70
Immediately after fit
Ca.
9.0
9.4
. .
. .
. .
. .
9.1
Mg.
0.93
1.10
. .
. .
. .
. .
1.10
It will be seen that in practioally all cases there was a fall in the magnesium
concentration of the blood serum during the occurrence of the ' fits '. In a
few cases, the concentration was measured immediately after the symptoms
had subsided and an increase was observed in each of these. An interesting
feature was that the calcium concentrations were simultaneously lowered in
most of the cases, though even these values were definitely within the normal
levels prescribed for these animals [Dukes, 1937]. It may also be pointed out
that, unlike the magnesium concentrations, the calcium concentrations were
not found to go up mmediately after the ' fit'.
It may be remembered that substitution of wheat-straw by fresh hay
brought about instantaneous relief in one animal. Fresh hay was found to
* The figures for calcium and magnesium contents of blood in the ' before fit' column
of Table III, represent the amounts present in serum when the animals were quite
normal. It was our practice to carry out the estimations of calcium, and magnesium
contents of blood serum every fortnight for these animals and the values obtained in the
last estimations before the animals started getting fits are given.
S. N. RAY 209
contain quite a high percentage of magnesium, the comparative concentrations
in the two roughages being (a) wheat straw—0.255 per cent MgO and fresh
hay 0.702 per cent MgO (on dry matter basis). In order to find out whether
the administration of extra magnesium has a curative effect on these symptoms,
one of the animals (H. C. 48) was fed 4 oz. of magnesium carbonate per day
for seven days. At the end of this period, the concentration of the mineral
in the serum was found to have increased from 0.90 mg. per 100 c.c. serum to
the normal figure of 2.07 mg. per 100 c.c. serum. In spite of this high con-
centration of magnesium in the blood serum, the animal was still suffering
from occasional fainting fits. It is probable, therefore, that in addition to
higher proportion of magnesium fresh hay contains some other substance
which has a direct curative effect on these symptoms.
It was, however, observed that the animal receiving extra magnesium
showed an immediate improvement in its general health and commenced to
put on weight rapidly. It was thought possible, therefore, that the magnesium
contained in the feed was not being utilized by the animals and that the
hypomagnesaemia was due to the negative retention of this mineral. In
order to test the truth of this theory, metabolism experiments were conducted
on four of the animals. The data is given in Table IV and it will be seen that
three out of four animals were on a negative balance in regard to magnesium,
whereas all the animals were on a positive balance as regards calcium. Even
the small positive balance of magnesium shown by one of the animals is not
very significant when it is remembered that the animal had been growing at
the rate of about one pound per day and was likely to use up this small balance
in new bone-formation, having very little surplus available for increasing the
serum concentration of this mineral.
TABLE IV
Calcium and magnesium retention by the experimental animals
No. of
animals
H. C.46 .
H. C.48 .
H. C.50 .
H. C. 53 .
Experimental
group
Vit. A. def.
Vit. A. def. control
Protein def. .
Protein def. control
Live
weight
in lb.
400
500
462
520
Nutrients
CaO
MgO
CaO
MgO
CaO
MgO
CaO
Mg0
Intake
in gm.
29.22
11.00
29.22
11.00
25.00
8.29
30.05
9.75
Output in gm.
Urine
1.73
2.17
0.98
2.60
1.46
3.16
1.59
1.77
Faeces
19.07
7.79
22.27
8.61
19.70
6.95
26.81
9.81
Total
20.08
9.96
23.25
11.21
21.16
10.01
28.40
11.58
Balance
+ 8.14
+.1.04
+ 5.97
—0.21
+ 4.44
—1.72
+ 1.65
—1.83
The calcium and magnesium contents of the feed and excreta were estimated according to the method of Talapatra,
Ray and Sen [1940].
DISCUSSION
The point that emerges from the data set out in Table IV is that with the
particular feed used 8 to 11 gm. MgO per day (or 19 to 22 mg. of MgO per lb.
body weight) were not sufficient for these animals. This is rather remarkable,
for European and American workers have found much lower intakes to be
210
Hypomagnesaemia in Heifer Calves
sufficient for maintenance. Wendt [1925] offered as a standard 0.01 gm. of
magnesium per kg. of body weight, which amounts to roughly 4.0 gm. of
MgO per day per animal of 500 lb. live weight. Forbes, French and Letonoff
[1929] found that on a ration of equal parts of maize meal and alfalfa hay at a
level of half maintenance, storage of magnesium occurred with an intake of
9 mg. per kg. body weight. At the same time, these workers observed a
negative retention of the mineral when alfalfa hay alone was fed at main-
tenance level, although the magnesium intake in the later experiment was as
high as 32 mg. per kg. of live weight. Using a basal ration largely or entirely
composed of milk, Huffman and Duncan [1936] were able to maintain the
magnesium content of blood plasma by administering extra magnesium com-
pounds to the extent of 15 to 20 mg. per lb. body weight. If the figures given
in Table IV are represented graphically (Fig. 1) it will be noticed that with a
feed consisting of grain-mixtures and wheat straw the minimum daily magne-
sium requirement works out at 24 mg. of MgO per lb. of body weight. This
figure is twice as high as that given by Wendt [1925] or that found by Forbes
et al. [1929] on the maize and alfalfa diet. Our figure, however, compares
favourably with the figure of Forbes et al. obtained from the alfalfa alone
feeding experiment or that of Huffman and Duncan (loc cit.).
FIG. 1. Relation between feed magnesium concentration and magnesium retention