H.
S.
BAWA
109
The results of experiment No. 6 (Table IV) show-
ed that the disease could be produced in susceptible
animals by subcutaneous and intra muscular
inoculation of milk from affected cases.
Experiment No. 7
This experiment was designed to see if the
infective agent, which is believed to be a filterable
virus, present in the milk, can be destroyed by heat
at 60° C. for half-an-hour, as most known viruses
are destroyed at temperatures ranging between
58°C. and 60°C. This experiment also served to
show whether infection could be conveyed from
the experimentally-produced disease to a second
healthy goat.
TABLE V
Expt.
goat
No.
14
15
Date
27-2-43
1-8-43
Route
Intra muscular
Do.
Material
Mammary
exudate from
goat No. 13.
"Do. " heated
60°C. for ½ an
hour.
Dose
15 c.c
15 c.c.
Remarks
Slight lameness in fore-legs and changes in
milk. Subacute type of disease produced
No reaction
This experiment (Table V) shows that the
disease can be passaged, and that the causative
agent is destroyed when heated to 60°C. for half
an hour.
DISCUSSION
According to the 1939-40 Annual Report of the
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Wah
was believed by early workers to be rinderpest,
anthrax or haemorrhagic septicaemia. The
present experimental and field investigation shows
that Wah is none of the above-named diseases.
As already indicated, no growth has been
obtained by sowing samples of morbid material
on laboratory media, and no pathogenic organisms
could be seen on microscopical examination of
milk, blood or knee joint fluid. It seems that the
causative agent will probably prove to be a filter-
able virus. (Attempts at isolating a virus could
not be made in the author's laboratory owing to
lack of facilities).
The chief symptoms of the disease, viz, abor-
tion, swelling of the joints, lameness, disturbances
of milk secretion and keratitis are also seen in
goats and sheep suffering from Brucella infections
[Dobois, 1926]. An examination of urine, milk,
blood and blood sera from the affected cases,
however, indicated that Wah is not due to Brucella
infection, while the absence of undulant fever in
human beings consuming the milk from affected
goats further supports this conclusion. The
symptoms of the disease, as seen in natural cases
and as shown by experimental animals, resemble
contagious agalactia of sheep and
goats
[Wooldridge, 1923 ; Galloway, 1930]. The writer
has been able to reproduce the disease in healthy
animals by inoculation of altered milk, which is
in conformity with the findings of Celli and De
Blasi [1896]. After the introduction of virulent
material, viz. mammary exudate, into the
mammary gland, the milk was altered after three
or four days ; in some cases the infection remained
localized, in others after 10 to 12 days there was
generalization to the knee joints. This finding is
in agreement with that of Galloway [1930], the
only difference being that no eye lesions were
shown in the writer's experimental animals.
The infective agent, after heating to 60°C. for
half-an-hour, failed to produce the disease in
healthy susceptible animals. These results are
also comparable with those of Galloway [1930].
The above evidence tends to show that Wah of
goats and sheep, as found in Sind, bears a strong
resemblance to contagious agalactia of sheep and
goats as found in Italy [Metaxa, 1816] and
Algeria [Sergent & Roig, 1917]. In the Encyclope-
dia of Wooldridge [1923] it is stated that the
disease is limited to Europe, particularly the
mountainous districts of Switzerland, Northern
Italy and Southern France. This is the first
record of the disease in India.
As to treatment, no specific curative agent has
been found for this condition. Bridre, Donation
and Hilbert, [1928] in a small number of experi-
ments obtained good results with stovarsol.
This drug has not been tried by the writer owing
to its present high price. Palliative treatment by
oral administration of magnesium sulphate and
salicylic acid has given apparently beneficial
results. The intravenous injection of Lugol's
solution and formalin has also been tried on a few
animals with varying success.