40
CUTANEOUS ERUPTIONS OF RINDERPEST IN GOATS [Vol. XXIII, Part I,
five goats which did not show cutaneous eruptions. The cutaneous eruptions in the
beginning were quite small, discrete and presented a congested appearance. In
goats which had thick hair or deep coloured skin, such lesions generally escaped
notice unless the animals were closely examined. Under and inside of the external
ears were the sites where lesions appeared first. The skin of these regions is thin
and fine. These initial eruptions developed into pustules and discharged thick
sero-purulent fluid which caused matting of the hair. Later, scabs were formed
which remained sticking for about a week or even more and fell off after 7 to 10
days leaving hairless islets of skin.
Out of the 13 goats affected with rinderpest, seven died—three out of the eight
which had shown cutaneous eruptions and four out of the five which did not exhibit
any cutaneous lesions. The mortality rate, therefore, was 37.5 and 80.0 per cent.
respectively in the two groups. The disease in animals showing cutaneous lesions
was of a milder type, the temperature reaction was less marked and so also were
other systemic disturbances. In the case of animals that were affected with rinder-
pest but showed no cutaneous lesions, the disease was severer with high thermal
reaction and marked systemic disturbances, such as dullness, loss of appetite and
diarrhoea, which was also blood-stained in some cases.
Laboratory examination
Scabs collected from the affected cases were emulsified with normal saline
solution and injected subcutaneously into two healthy kids (No. 6 and 579). A
piece of spleen from a natural case showing cutaneous lesions was collected and
preserved in 50 per cent normal saline glycerine. It was emulsified with normal
saline solution and 2 c.c. of this emulsion was injected subcutaneously in each of
the two healthy kids (No. 3 and 8). All the four kids developed typical symptoms
of rinderpest. Table I shows the temperature of these four kids taken every
morning for 10 days after inoculation. Kid No. 6 was destroyed on the 4th day
for submission of material to the Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar.
The remaining three kids showed typical cutaneous eruption on differents parts of
the body from the 6th day onward. Plate I, fig. 1 and 2 clearly show these lesions.
The lesions persisted throughout the course of the disease. Kid No. 579 died on
24 August 1951. To further confirm the diagnosis of the disease, the two remaining
kids No. 3 and 8 were subjected to immunity test by injecting 3 c.c. of virulent
goat-adapted rinderpest blood virus to each of the kids. Two healthy kids (No.
582 and 583) were used as controls. Table II shows the temperature of these
animals taken for 10 consecutive mornings. There was no reaction in the experi-
mental kids (No. 3 and 8), where as the controls showed typical rinderpest reaction.
Material sent to Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar, consisted of
scabs from the natural cases of the disease and two pieces of spleen from the experi-
mental kid No. 6. Results received from the Mukteswar Institute confirmed
diagnosis for rinderpest. Cutaneous lesions were, however, not observed in the
animals used for transmission experiments at Mukteswar, but immunity tests carried
out there against fox and goat dermatitis on experimental animals proved that the
disease in question was neither fox nor goat dermatitis.