7
Rats (Mus decumanus), some succumbed and some proved refractory
both to the inoculated disease as well as to feeding experiments. The follow-
ing animals and birds, viz., ponies (hill and plains breed), sheep, goats, dogs,
cats, and fowls received large doses of bouillon cultures, 0.1 c.c. of which killed
susceptible cattle, but all proved refractory.
20. Young hill cattle 1 to 3 years of age were found to be more susceptible
than full-grown and older animals of the same breed, when primarily injected
with certain biles collected from animals which had succumbed to Hæmorr-
hagic Septicæmia, and later tested with 0.2 c.c. of virulent bouillon cultures.
The former died whilst the latter recovered.
21. One attack of the disease confers immunity, but for what period in
this country has not yet been ascertained.
22. The organisms of the disease which are said to remain virulent for a
period of ten months in cultivation were found to have lost all power of re-
producing the disease when kept at Muktesar, 7,500 feet elevation between
November 17th, 1902, and April, 1903, lowest temperature recorded during the
interval, 24.8°F.
23. The typical organism of Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia can readily be
obtained from the body cavity of ticks (Ixodes) collected from affected animals
during the latter portion of the course of the disease or at the time of death.
The organism can be recovered in artificial cultures from the blood in the body
cavities of such ticks and the cultures have been found to retain their
virulence for rabbits. It is more than probable that female ticks replete with
blood from Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia animals do drop off and when the cycle
is complete, the young in their turn are the means by which the disease is
conveyed to other animals, as is the case with the " Piroplasma bigeminum " in
Texas or Tick Fever.
24. In a recent outbreak of spontaneous Septicæmia in rabbits, during
which some 30 or more animals succumbed to the disease, they presented in their
blood an organism identical in form, etc., to that found in Hæmorrhagic
Septicæmia. Blood teeming with the typical bipolar staining organism and
bouillon cultures of the same, failed to produce any effect when injected
subcutaneously in plains cattle.
25. The practical results of this prolonged investigation will be found in
Section II.
26. Hæmoglobinuria* or Red water in cattle and buffaloes.—At the end
of December, 1902,I informed the Inspector-General by letter, that Hæmoglo-
binuria or Texas Fever had made its appearance spontaneously in Plains cattle
at Bareilly Depôt, some days after being inoculated with rinderpest blood
obtained from hill cattle at Muktesar.
27. This disease has been recognised for years in this country and was
clinically described by Veterinary-Colonel J. H. B. Hallen in 1871. Cattle,
buffaloes, and sheep are liable to the disease, and as has been observed both in
Europe and India, frequently the females of the above species are attacked
shortly after parturition.
28. The disease is due to the presence of the " Piroplasma bigeminum "
in the red corpuscles, the white corpuscles remaining unaffected ; it can usually
be transmitted to healthy and susceptible cattle by intravenous and
subcutaneous inoculation of infected blood, but not by large doses of infected
blood per os. The symptoms are usually less severe in young animals. The
organism may be recognized microscopically in the blood of the general circula¬
ation previous to the presence of the Hæmoglobinuria.
29. One attack of the disease confers an active immunity for a period of
several years.
30. The chief points of interest with regard to the cases of Hæmogo-
binuria noted, were :—
Animals pasturing on undrained land or land subject to flood, and drink¬
ing the water of boggy lands are most likely to contract the disease in India.
*Synonyms :—Texas Fever, Southern cattle fever (United States America).
Tristeza (Argentina).
Rindermalaria and Rothe-krankheit (Germany).
Tick Fever (Australia).
Red water, black water or bloody urine, Lal pesháb (Hindi), Rokto mootra (Bengali).
Rodsyge (Norway).