P. R. KRISHNA IYER 101
among buffaloes than is generally
believed,
especially in lower Egypt where buffaloes are
housed under
unsatisfactory condition. His
data on incidence are limited to information
obtained from public
abattoirs.
Statistics
collected at the abattoir at Alexandria on animals
from lower Egypt showed that about 60 per cent
of aged buffaloes and 9 per cent of the calves
slaughtered were affected with tuberculosis,
especially the pulmonary form. In the abattoir
at Cairo the incidence was considerably less and
this is attributed to the fact that most of the
animals slaughtered came from upper Egypt or
the Sudan where housing coditions are reason-
ably good.
Carpano tested 350 apparently
healthy buffaloes (348 female and 2 male) by
the intradermal and subcutaneous methods; 51
reacted to the intradermal test: of these 11 gave
positive reactions when subsequently tested by
the subcutaneous method and had tuberculous
lesions on post-mortem examination. Carpano
noted that tuberculin, both in buffaloes and
cattle, produced a similar type of reaction,
except that the subcutaneous injection of tuber-
culin in buffaloes was often followed by a
local reaction and the maximum temperature
was not reached until 30 hours after injection,
sometimes the local reaction is so severe as to
cause lameness and inappetence, and transitory
decrease in milk yield. It is concluded that
buffaloes are more sensitive to tuberculin than
cattle and the subcutaneous test is recommend-
ed in the field owing to the possibility of non-
specific reactions after intradermal injection.
Bubbermann [1934], in Java, reports that a
skin disease of buffaloes characterized by the
presence of 'tubercles' was examined by cultural
and animal inoculation tests for tuberculosis
but with negative results. He also refers to an
atypical strain of the tubercle bacillus isolated
from a buffalo. Topacio [1935] states that
clinical tuberculosis has not been recorded in
buffaloes in the Philippines, but that they readily
die of tuberculosis after experimental inocula-
tion. Bunanos [1936], in Greece, states that
buffaloes are considered less susceptible to
tuberculosis than cattle. Lobel, Van der Schaaf
and Roza [1936]
isolated three strains of
tubercle bacilli from the water-buffalo and found
them to be of bovine type. These strains had
a low virulence for small laboratory animals and
gave a week initial growth on media.
The
report of a Committee on Diseases of the Philip-
pine Veterinary Medical Association [1937]
states that three cases of buffalo tuberculosis
were diagnosed by microscopical and bacterio-
logical methods. One of these was shown by
animal and cultural tests to be due to the
bovine type of bacillus. Topacio and Coronel
[1941] demonstrated that the native Carabao
(domestic buffalo) of the Philippines is experi-
mentally susceptible to tuberculosis and that a
healthy carabao placed in contact with an arti-
ficially infected carabao contracted the disease.
They add that the carabao is susceptible to
natural infection under ranch conditions and
that fatal termination occurred when the ani-
mal's resistance is lowered by an inter-current
disease such as surra. Hadwen [1942] reports
an outbreak of tuberculosis in a large herd of
buffaloes in the National Buffalo Park at Wain-
wright (U.S.A.). In 1907 the herd consisted
of 742 buffaloes. From 1914 to 1923, there
was no outward indication of tuberculosis in the
herd, but in 1923, it was decided to destroy
some of the animals. In the first three kills
(1923-29) the oldest animals in the herd were
slaughtered, and the percentage of tuberculous
affection was the highest in these 3 kills, viz.,
about 72 to 77 per cent animals. In the final
slaughter in 1939, there was a marked drop in
the percentage with tuberculous lesions, viz.
30.14 per cent: in this kill animals of all ages
including calves were slaughtered.
Among
animals slaughtered in 1923, several cases of
generalized tuberculosis were noted. This work-
er observes that the incidence of tuberculosis
did not prevent the herd increasing in size.
The writer encountered a case of tuberculosis
in a she-buffalo in Lahore. The animal, al-
though in excellent bodily condition, showed a
high temperature, dyspnoea, an occasional cough,
a jugular pulse and oedema of the dewlap.
The owner stated that the buffalo was a heavy
milker and that she suddenly went dry about
two days before admission to the hospital. The
case was diagnosed as traumatic pericarditis
with pneumonia as a complication;
death
occurred on the 3rd day. Post-mortem examina-
tion showed extensive
bilateral pulmonary
lesions with tuberculous pneumonia of the an-
terior lobes. The lesions varied in size from a
pea to a tennis ball. The contents of the larger
tubercles were dissipated, with cavitation,
(Plate X figs. 1 and 2). The mediastinal and
bronchial glands were enlarged and extensively
caseated. No other part of the body was found
affected. This case indicates that the bodily
condition may at times be so well maintained
that disease may not be suspected, though it
may be advanced.
Data concerning the types of tubercle bacilli
isolated from the buffalo are extremely meagre,
and this investigation on abattoir material was,