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IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES ON PASTEURELLA [Vol. XXVIII, Part III,
In general, no untoward reaction following vaccination was observed in any
animal excepting one buffalo which started sweating profusely soon after inocula-
tion. This may be due to the animal being allergic to foreign proteins.
Body temperature of 1,000 animals out of those vaccinated in different places
was recorded for a period of two days before and seven days following vaccination.
In general, the animals were reported to have maintained a normal temperature
excepting on one farm with a strength of 769 animals where the vaccinated animals
were reported to have recorded a rise of a degree or two in their body temperature
for three to four days. The average milk yield at all the four dairy farms for a week
before and a week following vaccination was compared and it was observed that
there was no statistically significant difference. Slight swellings at the site of
inoculation were seen in about 5 per cent of the cases but these generally disappeared
in about four or five days excepting in one solitary case where a field worker reported
that in the 929 animals inoculated by him slight swellings in about 5 per cent of
cases had persisted for more than two months. However, no report of abscess
formation or sloughing of the skin over the site of inoculation was received from
any quarter. In this connection, it may also be pointed out that when the inocula-
tions were carried out under the supervision of one or the other of the authors of the
article, no untoward local reaction was observed in the animals either on the farms
or under village conditions.
Observations on the value of the adjuvant vaccine
The value of the adjuvant vaccine was studied in four organised dairy farms
and 38 villages having a history of annual recurrence of haemorrhagic septicaemia.
In the case of the dairy farms, cattle and buffaloes totalling 19,333 heads were
immunized with the adjuvant vaccine. No animals could be left un-vaccinated to
serve as controls, as the owners were not prepared to take the risk of losing any
animal due to haemorrhagic septicaemia. It was, also, not possible to vaccinate
a proportion of the animals with the usual commercial broth vaccine in order to get
a comparative idea of the efficacy of the two vaccines. The efficacy of the vaccine
at the farms had, therefore, to be judged by comparing the mortality rate due to
haemorrhagic septicaemia occurring during H. S. season following the use of the
adjuvant vaccine with that in the previous years when the commercial broth vaccine
had been employed. Besides, the number of outbreaks of haemorrhagic septicaemia
in the neighbouring villages where the animals had either not been vaccinated or
vaccinated with the commercial broth vaccine, also furnished some idea regarding
the efficacy of the new adjuvant vaccine.
At the dairy farms, a total of 19,333 animals including cows, buffaloes and
young stock of each species were vaccinated with the new adjuvant vaccine. It
is very encouraging to report that although during the monsoon season several
outbreaks of haemorrhagic septicaemia were reported in the areas around the farms,
not even a single death due to pasteurellosis occurred in three farms and in the
fourth farm only one buffalo-heifer, which was about seven months old at the time of
vaccination, died of pasteurellosis. During the previous year also, the adjuvant
vaccine had been tried on these four organised farms and the results were reported