NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
S. N.
RAY
83
A curious feature of the curves is the sharp rise in vitamin C within 24
hours of inoculating rinderpest virus. This rise was observed in all the animals
examined. A similar but smaller rise is also seen in the curve for cases of
theileriasis after the thirteenth day, that is two or three days before the
protozoa appear in the blood stream. This rise in the concentration of the
vitamin appears to be a mobilising action on the part of the animal system in
order to strengthen the defensive mechanism against the invading organisms.
SUMMARY
A decrease in the concentration of vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in the blood,
liver and spleen of animals suffering or dying from a number of infectious
diseases such as rinderpest, blackquarter and helminthiasis has been observed.
In certain other diseases, such as acute theileriasis in bulls or Ranikhet disease
in fowls, little or no such reduction was seen.
In rinderpest, the diminution in the vitamin C concentration of the blood
was found to run parallel with the degree of severity of the infection though it
was not associated with rise of temperature.
A sharp rise in the concentration of the vitamin in the blood was observed
within 24 hours of inoculating rinderpest virus. A similar but smaller rise
was also seen after the thirteenth day in animals infected with acute theileriasis.
The significance of these findings is discussed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thanks are due to Mr. J. R. Haddow, Officer-in-charge of the Pathology
and Bacteriology Section of this Institute, for his constant advice and guidance,
to Dr. H. N. Ray, Systematic Protozoologist and to Mr. M. K. Sreenivasan,
Veterinary Deputy Superintendent, for kindly supplying me with blood from
animals suffering from acute theileriasis and rinderpest.
REFERENCES
Abbasy, M. A. and Harris, L. J. (1937). Lancet 2, 181.
Baumann, T. and Rappolt, L. (1937). Z. Vitaminforsch. 6, 1.
Bessey, O. A. and King C. G. (1933). J. Biol. Chem. 103, 687.
Birch, T. W. ; Harris, L. J. and Ray, S. N. (1933). Biochem. J. 27, 590.
Greenwald, C. K. and Harde, E. (1935). Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol. & Med. 32, 1157.
Harde, E ; Rothstein, J. A. and Ratish, H. D. (1935). Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol. & Med.
32, 1088. Heise and. Martin (1936). Proc. Soc. Expt. Biol. & Med. 34, 142.
Jungeblut, C. W. (1939). J. Expt. Med. 70, 315.
King, C. G. and Menten, M. L. (1935). J. Nutrition 10, 129.
Parsons, L. G. (1938). Lancet 234, 123.
Sendroy, J. J. and Schultz, M. P. (1936). J. Clin. Investigation 15, 369.
Svirbely, J. L. (1933). Biochem. J. 27, 960.
Zilva, S. S. (1937). Brit. J. Exptl. Path. 18, 449.
B
EXPERIMENTS ON THE TRANSMISSION OF RINDER-
PEST THROUGH THE AGENCY OF TABANUS
ORIENTIS, WITH REMARKS ON THE
FEEDING HABITS OF THIS FLY
BY
H. R. KAPUR, M. R. C. V. S.
Imperial Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar
(Received for publication on 30 January 1941)
(With 2 text-figures)
INTRODUCTION
R INDERPEST, being one of the oldest diseases recognized in this country
as causing enormous losses among cattle every year, it would be imagin-
ed that the mode of its transmission has been fully investigated by now, but a
perusal of the available literature on the subject shows that this is not so.
Arthropods as transmitting agents of this disease have been mentioned by
various observers, but very little appears to have been done to find out whether
they actually transmit the disease and set up an outbreak. The only efforts
made in this direction were by Sen [1925, 1937], Hornby [1926] and Bhatia
[1935]. After the reader has gone through the account of the experiments
carried out by the above workers and of those detailed in this article, he would
not only hesitate to form any definite opinion but also find certain conclusions
as being incompatible.
A few more workers have conducted experiments which aimed only at
determining the duration of the viability of the rinderpest virus in the body
of a tick or a fly or in the urine, faeces, etc. In most cases emulsion of the fly
or the tick, after it had fed on the infected animal or on its blood or faeces, was
inoculated into healthy cattle to see if the disease could be reproduced in this
manner, but in no case was the disease transmitted through a bite. Thus Ward
and his collaborators [1914] experimented on the viability of the virus in urine
and faeces of the infected animals under various conditions, whilst Shilston
[1917] carried out similar experiments with meat, bone marrow and blood.
Curasson [1922] succeeded in reproducing the disease by inoculating the emul-
sion of an infected engorged Ixodes ricinus tick immediately on removal from
its host, but the result was negative when this was done an hour after removal.
His work with Tabanus will be mentioned later in this article. DeSouza
[1924] found that the tick, Boophilus annulatus, fed on an infected animal was
virulent on injection after seven days.
Work on the actual transmission of rinderpest through bites of insects was
first undertaken by Sen [1925]. With Aëdes (Stegomyia) albopicta the results
of his experiments on hill bulls were negative. With Musca domestica he
obtained negative results when flies fed on infective material (such as nasal
discharge, blood and faeces of infected animals) were allowed to come in con-
tact with such parts of the body as seemed likely to serve as avenues of infec-
tion under natural conditions, but the results were positive when such infec-
tive flies were inoculated into susceptible bulls. In his third series of experi-
ments he employed Linognathus vituli. Here, too, the results were negative
84
86
Experiments on the Transmission of Rinderpest
no blood appeared the fly was allowed again to continue its feed for another
minute or so until blood appeared. Every individual feeder was treated in
this manner. The interval between the infective and healthy feeds was res-
tricted to just a few seconds. The experimental bulls, except when brought
for feeding flies, were kept in chappars a good distance away from the rinder-
pest shed.
RINDERPEST TRANSMISSION EXPERIMENTS WITH T. ORIENTIS
The results of two transmission experiments are summarized in Tables I
and II.
TABLE I
First experiment
Date and number of
flies collected
(1939)
12th May : 50 flies .
.
13th May: 56 flies . .
14th May: 50 flies . .
15th May: 48 flies . .
16th May: 40 flies . .
17th May: 25 flies . .
18th May: 60 flies . .
19th May: 52 flies . .
20th May: 41 flies . .
21st May: 30 flies . .
22nd May : 39 flies .
23rd May: 16 flies
}30 flies
24th May: 14 flies
25th May: 25 flies . .
26th May: 31 flies . .
27th May: 35 flies
28th May: 30 flies }65 flies
29th May: 60 flies . .
30th May: 42 flies . .
31st May: 37 flies . .
1st June: 50 flies . .
2nd June: 40 flies . .
3rd June: 11 flies .
4th June : 30 flie } 41 flies
5th June: 45 flies . .
6th June : 60 flies . .
7th June : 75 flies . .
8th June: 35 flies . .
9th June: 39 flies . .
10th June: 20 flies
} 44
11th June: 24 flies flies
Number of rinder-
pest infested bull
used and number
of flies partially fed
H. B. 511: 27 flies
„ 34 „
„ 30 „
„ 31 „
H. B. 596: 26 flies
„
15 „
„ 40 „
„ 32 „
H. B, 271: 22 flies
„ 21 „
„
25
„
H. B. 479 : 22 flies
„
19
„
„
19 „
H.B. 31: 50 flies
„
40 „
„
33
„
„ 27 „
H. B. 552: 38 flies
„
27 „
„
34 „
H. B. 437 : 36 flies
„ 40 „
„ 45 „
„ 24 „
H. B. 399: 24 flies
„ 40 „
Number of
flies
induced to
complete
their feed
on healthy
bull No. 176
27
34
30
31
26
15
40
32
22
21
25
22
19
19
50
40
33
27
38
27
34
36
40
45
24
24
40
Date of
feeding
(1939)
13th May
14th May
15th May
16th May
17th May
18th May
19th May
20th May
21st May
22nd May
23rd May
25th May
26th May
27th May
29th May
30th May
31st May
1st June
2nd June
3rd June
5th June
6th June
7th June
8th June
9th June
10th June
12th June
Remarks
Flies were starved
for 24-48 hours
before feed. The inter-
val
between
the
infective and healthy
feeds was
a few
seconds.
Result
Negative
H.
R.
KAPUR
87
It will be seen from Table I that a total of 1210 wild flies were used in the
experiment and that 821 of these were partially fed on rinderpest infected
animals and were allowed to complete their feed on a healthy bull which was
thus subjected to the bites of infected flies over a period of 27 days, but the
result was negative. The bull was subsequently tested with rinderpest virus
and was found susceptible to the disease (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Hill bull 176—Subjected to bites of infected T. orientis with negative results and later tested for immunity.
88
Experiments on the Transmission of Rinderpest
TABLE II
Second experiment
Date and number of
flies collected
(1939)
14th June: 25 flies
15th June: 20 flies
16th June : 4 flies .
Number of rinder¬
pest infected, bull
used and number of
flies partially fed
H. B. No. 561: 19 flies
H.B. No. 561:11 flies
H.B. No. 11: 24 flies
Number of
flies
induced to
complete
their feed
on healthy
bull No. 25
19
11
24
Date of
feeding
(1939)
15th June
17th June
19th June
Remarks
Flies were starved
for 24-48 hours
before feed. The
interval between the
infective and healthy
feeds was a few
seconds
Result
Positive
From Table II it will be observed that a total of 54 infected flies were fed
on a healthy bull on three alternate days with positive results. The animal
developed a mild thermal reaction followed by mouth lesions and diarrhœa
resulting in death (Fig. 2). The post-mortem examination revealed typical
lesions of rinderpest.
During transmission experiments the healthy and the infected bulls were
stationed about three yards apart from each other in order that the interval
between the infective and healthy feeds of the flies might be reduced to the
minimum. It might be a matter of speculation as to whether the positive
result obtained in the case of hill bull No. 25 might not be attributed to the bull
contracting the infection through contact rather than through infective bites.
Experimental evidence [Cooper, 1932] available on this point shows, however,
that it is unlikely that rinderpest can be transmitted in this manner, except
when very close contact is maintained for a period of not less than three days.
As remarked by Cooper, it is possible to transmit this disease only if the
closest possible contact was established and even then it would fail to develop
in as many as half the number of animals. By ' closest possible ' contact the
author meant common feeding, watering and housing.
OBSERVATION ON THE FEEDING HABITS OF T. ORIENTIS
A series of experiments was carried out to determine the relative fre-
quency with which T. orientis would feed by the interrupted and uninter-
rupted methods. The first experiment was commenced with eight flies, out of
which only one was noticed to feed.
It took about 5 minutes to complete
its feed. It was separated from the rest which latter were starved for
another 24 hours and during this period two of them died. The remaining five
were again tried for half an hour on the following day, but as none of them was
observed feeding, they were starved for another 24 hours and during this period
two more were found dead. The remaining three were afforded another chance
to feed on the third day morning but without success. On the fourth day,
H. R.
KAPUR
89
Fig. 2. Hill bull 25—Subjected to bites of infected T. orientis with positive results.
H. R.
KAPUR
91
During the course of the above experiments it was observed that it took
hardly 5 minutes to induce the flies to feed on a black bull, whereas it usually
took 10-20 minutes to make them feed on a brown bull. This finding was
further supported by the fact that these flies were always caught in areas
where buffaloes were grazed, but were less common in places frequented by
other cattle. In view of the above observation, black bulls were, as far as
possible, selected for the subsequent experiments.
Incidentally a few observations were made on the behaviour of T. orientis
under natural conditions, towards animals grazing out in the field. In one
instance a fly attempted to attach itself to the hind limb of a bull but was
prevented from doing so by the lashing of its tail. The tail of the animal was
then secured by an attendant, while the fly was still hovering over it and it
now settled on the hind shin and thrust its proboscis into the skin. At its
initial stage, the bite caused some discomfort to the animal, as was evidenced
by the fact that it shook the limb in an ineffectual attempt to dislodge the fly
but later it ceased to do so, even after the tail was let loose, and the fly com-
pleted its feed in about 5 minutes. In order to find out whether this parti-
cular fly would feed again it was caught and repeated attempts at feeding it
proved futile.
In another case a fly was seen alighting on the inside of the hock joint of
a bul. In spite of the lashing of the tail and the kicking of the legs by the
animal the fly succeeded in fixing itself. Immediately after, the animal
became quiet and continued grazing and the fly, after completing its feed, flew
off, leaving a drop of blood at the site of puncture. It was, however, cap-
tured and all efforts to feed it on subsequent days proved unsuccessful.
About thirty other observations were made on the feeding habits of
T. orientis under field conditions at Mukteswar and they were essentially
of the nature described above. It would therefore seem improbable that T.
orientis plays any important rôle in the spread of rinderpest under field condi-
tions in India, and inferentially this remark applies to other species of the
family of Tabanidae. It is of interest that Patton and Cragg [1913] would
appear, in essence, to share the views expressed above, for these workers
observe as follows : ' Most biting flies take a full meal at each feed, and
seldom feed more than once a day, so that the parasite cannot be passed on
to a second host unless it is capable of living during this period in what would
appear, judging from the behaviour of such organisms under laboratory condi-
tions, to be a very unfavourable environment; or if it happened that the
fly was interrupted in its meal, and settled on another individual to complete
it. The intermittent habit of feeding of the non-biting muscids suggests
that they are more likely to spread infection in this way than are true biting
flies '.
VIABILITY OF RINDERPEST VIRUS IN T. ORIENTS
A series of experiments was conducted to determine the viability of
rinderpest virus in the body of T. orientis after artificial feeding on infected
bulls.
92
Experiments on the Transmission of Rinderpest
Curasson [1922] was the earliest to undertake such viability tests in
Tabanids (species not stated). In a single instance he was able to transmit the
disease by inoculation of an emulsion of proboscides removed from flies imme-
diately after their infective feed on an animal on the third day of fever. The
result of such inoculation, however, proved negative when the emulsion was
made and injected 15 minutes after the infective feed. Negative results were
also obtained when there was an interval of three quarters of an hour.
In the present experiments a lot of 10 dead flies, fed on an infected
animal at the height of thermal reaction, was mashed 48 hours after their feed
in 10 c.c. of normal saline solution. The emulsion was strained, filtered and
inoculated subcutaneously into a healthy bull without producing any eflfect.
The inoculation was then repeated using 10 living flies but the results
were likewise negative.
A third lot of 10 flies was emulsified 20 hours after the feed and on inocula-
tion produced typical symptoms of rinderpest after an incubation period of 5
days. The animal, however, recovered and was subsequently subjected to
immunity test and proved to be immune.
Finally, the experiment was repeated with an interval of 30 hours and
this likewise yielded positive results.
The above observations are summarized in Table III.
TABLE III
Rinderpest infec-
ted hill bull No.
H. B. 176
H. B. 31
H. B. 596
H.B. 561
Date and number
of flies fed
(1939)
13th May: 10 flies
30th May : 10 flies
19th May : 10 flies
15th June: 10 flies
Date of
inoculation
(1939)
15th May
1st June
20th May
16th June
Interval
(Hrs.)
48
48
20
30
Results
Negative
Negative
Positive
Positive
Incubation
period
(Days)
...
...
5
4
Remarks
All flies dead
All flies living
9 flies living and
one dead
All flies living
It was intended to determine the longest period for which the virus
would remain viable but due to rains having set in, no flies could be secured
and further experimentation could not therefore be undertaken.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1. A total of 821 wild T. orientis flies were partially fed on rinderpest
infected animals and allowed to complete their feed on a healthy bull, but
the latter did not develop the infection. When subsequently tested for
immunity by the inoculation of rinderpest virus, the bull proved susceptible
to the disease.
H. R.
KAPUR
93
Another healthy bull was subjected to only 54 infective bites and this
animal developed typical symptoms of the disease, which eventually progressed
to a fatal issue.
2. Observations on the feeding habits of T. orientis have shown that the
fly seldom takes more than one complete feed in captivity and that, under
field conditions, it usually enjoys an uninterrupted feed until it is fully engor-
ged. These facts make it impossible for this fly to play any important rôle
in the spread of rinderpest.
3. The virus of rinderpest is viable in the body of the fly for a minimum
period of 30 hours and inert at 48 hours.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author is greatly indebted to Mr. J. R. Haddow, B.Sc., M.R.C.V.S.,
D.V.S.M., I.V.S., Offg. Director, Imperial Veterinary Research Institute,
Mukteswar, for the facilities afforded in the execution of this work and the
keen interest taken from time to time during its progress. Thanks are due to
Mr. S. K. Sen, M.Sc., F.R.E.S., Offg. Veterinary Research Officer, in charge
of Protozoological Section, for the valuable suggestions offered in the initia-
tion of this work.
REFERENCES
Bhatia, H. L. (1935). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. & Anim. Husb. 5, 2.
Cooper, H. (1932). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. & Anim. Husb. 2, 383.
Cross, H. E. and Patel, P. G. (1921). Dept. Agric. Punjab Vet. Bull. 7.
Curasson, M. G. (1922). Rev. Gen. Med. Vet. 31, 57. (Abstract: Trop. Vet. Bull.
10, 49.)
DeSouza, M. A. (1924). Trop. Vet. Bull. 12, 63.
Hornby, H. E. (1926). Vet. J. 82, 348.
Patton, W. S. and Cragg, F. W. (1913). Textbook of Medical Entomology. (Christian Litera-
ture Society for India, London, Madras and Calcutta.)
Sen, S. K. (1925). Mem. Dept. Agric. Ind. Ent. Ser. 9, 5.
Sen, S. K. and Abdus Salam (1937). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. & Anim. Husb. 7, 219.
Shilston, A. W. (1917). Mem. Dept. Agric. Ind. Vet. Ser. 3, 1.
Ward, A. R. et al (1914). Philipp. J. Sci. B. 9, 49.
CAPILLARIA BOVIS SCHNYDER, 1906 FROM THE
INTESTINE OF A CALF AT MADRAS
BY
S. N. VAIDYANATHAN, G.M.V.C.
Veterinary Assistant Surgeon, Helminthology Research Section,
Madras Veterinary College
(Received for publication on 31 December 1940)
(With six text-figures)
Z EDER [1800] established the genus Capillaria on material from poultry,
though Schrank [ 1790 ] was the earlier to record the first member of the
genus with Capillaria (Trichocephalus) anatus from Anser ferus, as the type
species. Railliet [1915] accepted it as the type genus of a new sub-family
Capillarinae, under the family Trichuridae. Representatives of this genus
are parasitic in the intestine, liver or urinary bladder of birds, mammals, etc.
Only four species of Capillaria have been known to be parasitic in the
domesticated ruminants. Ransom [1911] described two of these, C. longipes
and C. brevipes from the small intestine of sheep in the United States. Schnyder
[ 1906 ] recorded the species C. bovis from the ox in Switzerland, giving a
brief description of the worms. Morgan [1925] obtained one female of this
genus from the ox in Wales, which he found allied to C. bovis and C. longipes,
thus failing to arrive at a conclusive identity. Bhalerao [1933] described
C. bilobata from the abomasum of hill bulls at Mukteswar.
The present collection of one male and two females was made from the
small intestine of an experimental calf, at the Madras Veterinary College ;
in their main features, the specimens obtained resemble those of C. bovis and
this opportunity is taken to record it for the first time in this presidency and
possibly in India.
The worm has a capillary body ; the anterior shorter portion contains the
oesophagus ; the posterior, very little longer, is only slightly thicker than the
anterior. The head end (Fig. 1) is smooth and rounded; mouth is simple.
Oesophagus is long, gradually increasing in size posteriorly. It consists (Fig. 2)
of a delicate tube apparently running through the centre of a chain of cells.
The cells in the anterior portion are not clearly made out; the posterior cells,
which are first small, gradually increase in size towards the end of the oeso-
phagus. At the junction of the oesophagus and the intestine ( Fig. 3 ) are
situated the yellowish-brown pyriform glands. The bacillary bands on the
cuticle are very indistinct in the preserved specimens. The intestine takes
an almost straight course and passes into a muscular rectum opening by the
anus which is sub-terminal (Figs. 4 and 6).
94
S. N.
VAIDYNATHAN
95
96
Capillaria bovis Schnyder, 1906
S. N.
VAIDYANATHAN
97
Female is 21.4-21.8 mm. long and 0.088-0.097 mm. in maximum thick-
ness. Oesophagus measures 7.00-7.25 mm. in length. The tail end is
blunt (Fig. 4). There is only one ovary, which begins at the rectal region and
extends anteriorly ; it thins out, bends on itself for a short distance and
continues anteriorly again as a broad uterus filled with eggs. The uterus
passes into a muscular vagina (Fig. 3) which opens by the vulva near the termi-
nation of the oesophagus, 7.20 mm. from the head end. The muscular vagina
measures 0.220 mm. Eggs are barrel-shaped (Fig. 5) with plugs at each end
containing when deposited an unsegmented ovum measuring 0.047 mm. ×
0.026 mm.
Male is 11.8 mm. long and 0.065 mm. in maximum thickness. The
oesophagus is 4.50 mm. in length. The single testis which is bulky occupies
most of the posterior region. Spicule (Fig. 6) is single, long and measures
1.01 mm. Sheath of the spicule is without spines and longer than the spicule
when extruded. Tail end is curved ventrally. Along each side of the posterior
end of the body beginning about 0.250 mm. from the tip of the tail, a rather
broad membranous expansion extends as far as the anus. There is, besides, a
membranous buras-like structure at the tip of the tail supported on each side
by a leg-like process.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am indebted to Rao Sahib M. Anant Narayan Rao, Lecturer in Parasi-
tology, Madras Veterinary College, for kindly confirming the identity of the
specimens. My thanks are due to the college artist, Mr. P. Doraiswami
Mudaliar, for help rendered in finishing the drawings.
REFERENCES
Bhalerao, G. D. (1933). Ind. J. Vet. Sci. & Anim. Husb. 3, 166
Morgan, D. O. (1925). J. Helm. 3, 167
Ransom, B. H. (1911). Bull. U. S. Dept. Agri. Bureau Anim. Indus. 127, 1
Yorke, W. and Maplestone, P. A. (1926). The Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates : London