4
I recorded the presence of Sp. bandicotti in the blood of a percentage of
Mus (Nesokia) giganteus in Poona. Rabbits and guinea-pigs inoculated
subcutaneously with blood containing these spirochetes, concurrently with the
Trypanosomata which the above-mentioned rodents harbour, contracted the
disease, and death resulted in the majority of instances. A paper entitled
"Some forms of Spirochœtosis met with in animals in India," detailing the results
of this investigation, appeared in the July number of the Journal of Tropical
Veterinary Science, to which I would refer the reader, for further details.
19. Piroplasmosis and Trypanosomiasis.—As opportunities offered, advan-
tage was taken during the year to further the investigations with regard to
Piroplasmosis and Trypanosomiasis in cattle.
In the Journal of Indian Veterinary Science, Volume II, No. I, a detailed
report upon the different species of Trypanosomata observed in bovines in
India has been published.
Spontaneous Equine Trypanosomiasis.
20. The effect of the passage of the T. evansi from a spontaneous equine
source through a series of equines.—A strain of Equine Trypanosomiasis
obtained from the Punjab was utilized for the purpose of this experiment.
During a period of sixteen months and twenty-two days, the trypanosoma
was passed through a series of forty equines. Inoculation by a scratch on the
nose and a trace of blood smeared into the scratch having been in the majority
of instances resorted to. During the early period of these experiments, the
incubation occupied from 4.5 to 6.5 days.
The course of the disease ran from 25 to a maximum of 42 days. During
the latter period, the incubation period lasted 3 to 4.5 days, while the course
of the disease terminating in death, in five cases, Nos. 36 to 40, took 4, 4, 3, 4
and 3 days respectively.
The period of incubation, and the course of the disease are more
prolonged during the cold season in the plains, and simulate the forms of
disease observed in animals located in the hills at 7,500 feet.
Further, when an equine was inoculated in the plains, with blood from an
animal No. 40 of the series, (disease which terminated in death in three days),
and was immediately removed to an elevation of 7,500 feet, instead of the
animal succumbing in a period of three to four days, the course of the disease
was immediately prolonged to twenty-eight full days.
The effect of passing the T. evansi through the body of small animals.
IN THE PLAINS.
Rats.
21. (a) Direct from the horse to the white rat.—The period of incubation
when white rats of 100 to 200 grammes body-weight are subcutaneously inocul-
ated with 0.001 c. c. of horse blood containing a large number of flagellates,
varies from 4.5 to 5.5 days. The course of the disease, from the first appear-
ance of the flagellate in the blood until death, occupied 4 to 5 days.
(b) After the sixty-seventh passage through white rats.—The period of
incubation of the T. evansi was reduced to a period of about 24 hours, while
the course of the disease occupied about 40 hours.
(c) After the seventy-eighth to the eighty-second passages through white
rats.—The period of incubation became still more reduced to seven hours, but
the course of the disease remained at about forty-eight hours or a little under.
The virulence of the T. evansi of spontaneous equine trypanosomiasis,
when inoculated into a country-bred pony, after the sixty-third passage through
the white rat, was found to be but little affected, except with regard to the
period of incubation which was reduced. The course of the disease, consisted
of one long paroxysm which lasted thirty-six days and termináted in death.
Mice.
(a) Direct from the horse to the white mouse.—The period of incuba-
tion when white mice of 15 grammes body-weight are subcutaneously inoculated