6
We may therefore assuredly assume that 7 c. c. administered by the serum
alone method would be sufficient to carry such cattle through the period of
an outbreak of rinderpest in the district.
13. Meerut bulls.—Of the 24 head of cattle inoculated, 3 were utilized
as control animals and 20 were inoculated by the simultaneous method with
doses of anti-rinderpest serum ranging between 5 and 15 c.c. per 600 lbs. body
weight. As none of the three former or controls inoculated with virulent
rinderpest (hill blood) succumbed to the disease, one was not surprised to
observe that only 5 out of 20 or 25 per cent. of the number which received serum,
showed any marked symptoms of rinderpest. This breed of cattle from the
Meerut District would therefore be fully protected by the serum alone method
when doses of 5 to 7 c.c. were administered, and such doses should give suffici-
ent protection to guard against rinderpest during a period of several months.
14. Moradabad.—Fourteen animals varying in age between 2¾ and 4
years were submitted to the simultaneous method with serum No. XIV, the
protective value of which was previously estimated to be 10 c.c. per 600 lbs. for
plains cattle and 180 c.c. per 600 lbs. for hill cattle. Six of their number
presented neither symptoms of rinderpest nor thermal reactions. Four presented
fair thermal reactions varying between 40.1 and 40.4° C., with slight symptoms
of the disease; whereas the third series numbering four animals exhibited high
temperatures varying between 40.7 and 41.5° C., but only two of the number
showed other manifestations, viz., a few vesicles.
The affected animals made a rapid recovery and were shortly after utilized
for the preparation of serum.
15. Anthrax.—Experiments with regard to the preparation of a protective
serum against Anthrax in cattle, etc., have been continued specially with a
view to the production of sera possessing high protective value. As anticipated
in last year's report, the period which must elapse between the initial injection
and the date of bleeding has been reduced in duration, but even now it has
been found necessary after one bleeding for serum that a further injection of
virulent material should be made before a subsequent withdrawal of blood can
be entertained, if the protective value of the serum is to be maintained.
Therefore it will be seen that unless large number of animals are injected for
the purpose of production of such sera the output cannot be anything but small
and until the shed accommodation sanctioned by the Government is provided
and is ready for occupation, the necessary space for, Anthrax cattle is limited
and cannot be increased.
16. Barbone * or Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia of buffaloes and bovines.—
This almost ubiquitous disease of buffaloes and cattle was first clinically known
and described in buffaloes by Metaxa in 1816, and during the past decade has
received considerable attention from bacteriologists.
17. During the rainy season of 1902, Veterinary-Captain G. K. Walker
with the assistance of Mr. Jethiji, Civil Veterinary Department, was enabled
to procure for me pathological material from one or more buffaloes which
succumbed to ' Barbone ' in the Punjab.
18. The organism, the cause of the disease, is a short bacillus, ovoidal, with
rounded extremities. The organism when stained presents the two terminal
portions coloured with the intervening or middle portion uncoloured. The
bacillus varies considerably in size, the largest specimens having been always
obtained from the spleen of the rabbit.
19. Rabbits are the most susceptible of all animals experimented with to
the organism of Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia. They succumbed in from 11½ to
20 hours after the subcutaneous inoculation of 0.05 c.c. bouillon culture
incubated at 37° C. for 48 hours. The following animals succumbed to inocula-
tion, after doses of 0.10 to 0.20 c.c. of bouillon cultures, in the periods stated
below :—
Buffaloes in 28 hours,
Plains bulls in 28 to 42½ hours,
Hill bulls in 23½ hours,
Donkeys in 17 to 23½ hours,
Pigeons succumbed in from 46½ to 278 hours.
* Synonyms:—Barbone dei bufali, Wild und Rinderseuche, Pasteurellosis bovis, Malignant sore throat
(India). Ghotwa, Gharrwa or Galghotu (Southern Punjab), Khounnaq (strangles) Egypt. Sakit Ngorok
(Exanthematous) and Koerang Naplas (pectoral form) Java.