8
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE CIVIL VETERINARY DEPARTMENT, BURMA,
destroyed. Ninety ponies of the Rangoon Battalion were also tested, two of which
reacted and were accordingly destroyed.
Examination of blood smears sent by Veterinary Assistants and others showed
a number of cases of hæmorrhagic septicaemia in cattle, buffaloes and elephants, a
number of cases of surra in elephants, also numerous cases of piroplasmosis in
different animals. An outbreak of sarcoptic mange affecting a considerable
number of water buffaloes was reported from Katha District.
(3)
PREVENTIVE
INOCULATION.
Table III
11. Anti-rinderpest serum injection was carried out in six districts in Lower
Burma, viz., Rangoon Town, Henzada, Bassein (twice), Prome, Thayetmyo (thrice)
and Tharrawaddy, and four districts in Upper Burma, viz., Mandalay, Ruby Mines
(twice), Pakôkku and Sagaing. The serum has been used for the first time in
the Henzada, Prome, Pakôkku and Sagaing Districts. The outbreak in Rangoon
Town was amongst Municipal bullocks, and 747 were injected at the request of
the Municipal Veterinary Surgeon.
The use of serum has still to be strongly advocated before villagers make up
their minds to favour its employment. In certain places where it has been success-
fully employed on previous occasions they are quite ready to again benefit by its
use when an injection party arrives, but they do not make any urgent appeals for
serum when disease appears amongst their cattle. In many instances no amount
of persuasion or explanation as to the advantages of serum are sufficient to induce
cattle owners to bring up their cattle. Frequently an inoculation party has had to
return without injecting anything like the number of animals that had been hoped
for. In one village in the Thayetmyo District the headman and cattle owners
held such strong objection to the method that a bribe was offered to the head of
the inoculation party in the hope of assuring his speedy departure.
Considerable wastage of serum occurs owing to the dampness of the serum
pit at Maymyo. It has been proposed to" arrange for the storage of serum at a
suitable temperature with one of the cold storage companies in Rangoon instead.
Much benefit would be derived from this arrangement inasmuch as serum could be
despatched at once in charge of inoculation parties, and delay in receiving supplies
of serum from Maymyo thereby obviated. In dealing with a rapidly contagious
disease like rinderpest the saving of even one day's delay is of the utmost import-
ance. In this connection it might be noted that delay is often occasioned in
obtaining the necessary funds for the travelling expenses of serum injection parties.
There is nothing in the nature of an adequate office advance from which money
can be at once taken for that purpose, and the Accounts Code is none too elastic,
although the Accountant-General personally has always been most willing to help
as far as possible in meeting the difficulty. By the time that a party has waited
a matter of three or four days (or longer as may happen during holidays) for a bill
to be presented in the treasury and cash duly received, and then has travelled to
an outbreak in such a remote part as, for instance, the Mömeik State, the
necessity for the employment of serum or anything but a party to help in disposal
of carcases of victims to the disease has all but disappeared. Segregation
measures are unfortunately far from perfect in this country, and the earlier serum
is used in an outbreak the better. In the initial stages where serum injection of
the comparatively small number of mediate and immediate contact animals can
be rapidly effected the spread of the disease may be controlled, and the necessiiy
for later expensive measures involving considerable expenditure of serum in
surrounding areas does not arise. Now that the amount of serum obtainable from
the Muktesar Laboratory is limited it is more than ever incumbent that all expendi-
ture should be to the best advantage.
Inspectors are being supplied with an outfit containing sufficient serum to
enable them to at once deal with many of the smaller outbreaks, or to begin
operations in larger outbreaks pending the arrival of necessary help.
Altogether 4,562 animals in 56 villages were injected during the year. The
number of deaths from rinderpest amongst these cattle afterwards is reported to
have been 35.