Report on protective inoculation against tick fever : an account of an experimental inquiry into its effect on cattle, and on meat and milk, together with some notes on protective measures other than inoculation / by FrankTidswell.

  • Tidswell, Frank, 1867-1941.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on protective inoculation against tick fever : an account of an experimental inquiry into its effect on cattle, and on meat and milk, together with some notes on protective measures other than inoculation / by FrankTidswell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    PROTECTIVE INOCULATION AGAINST TICK FEVER. An iVccount of an Experimental Inquiry into its Effects on Cattle, and upon Meat and Milk; together with some Notes on Protective Measures other than Inoculation. 'I’liK experinicnt.s ])erfoniio(l at the Maritime Quarantine Station, Sydney, and descrilied in this report, were commenced on 15th July, 1898, and terminated on 25th November, 1898. 'I'hey profess to deal only with the immediate effects of inoculation. The remote consequences, if there be any, can only be determined by a much greater lapse of time tlian the experiments covered. Some of the animals arc being kept under observation, and any further etfeets of inoculation shown by them will be duly reported. INTRODUCTION. In tlic opinion ol: those competent to judge, the invasion of New Soutli Wales by the Cattle Tick, and so by Tick Rever, is inevitable, and the steady southward progress made by tlie ticks in Queensland suggests that the time of their advent may be in the near future. Impressed with the calamitous consequences of tick infestation to the herds in the north, stockowners in this Colony have expressed the desire to supj)lement the measures already taken by the Grovernment by the protective inoculation of their cattle. At the present time this operation, which involves infection with living micro-organism, is prohibited by the Animals Infectious Diseases Act, 1888 (51 Vic., No. 30, section 4). In considering the advisability of permitting its practice, there cropped np the question of its effects on meat and milk. It was found that information on these aspects of inoculation was scanty, vague, and of the hearsay order. In view of the paramount importance of the interests involved, it was considered desirable to become possessed of more precise facts. With this object an experimental inquiry was undertaken by the Health Department, at the instance of the Hon. the Minister for Mines and Agriculture. The experiments, of necessity, covered more than their particular objects. Their successful conduction demanded an acquaintance with inoculation in general. In order to make the additional infor- mation gleaned accessible to all interested, the scope of this report had to be enlarged beyond the original intention. It now includes data concerning all the more important issues of the question. In its compilation use has been made not only of the results of our own experiments but also of those obtained by other investigators. In every case where such importations have been made, the source is duly acknowledged by reference to the list of literature at the; end of the report. The details of our own work are given in the records of observations in Appendix 2, extracts from which arc presented in the report itself as illustrations of the various points under discussion. Appendix 1 consists of charts upon which are shown in graphic form the relationships of the three principal features of the inoculation illness in dairy cows. As protective measures other than inoculation must play their paid in our plan of resistance to the invasion of ticks, some information concerning them, gathered principally during a recent visit to Queensland, has been incorporated into this report. It is hoped that this inclusion will not prove unacceptable. The writer’s thanks are due to the Hon. J. V. Chataway, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. R. R. (Tordon, Dr. J. Sydney Hunt, Mr. C. J. Pound, and other gentlemen, for the cordial reception, and unstinted help accorded to him during his visit to Queensland. The valuable professional services and advice of Mr. J. D. Stewart, M.R.C.V.S , Veterinary Surgeon to the Stock Branch, and the untiring aid of the assistants in the Sydney experiments, Messrs. Grant, Crouch, and Brown, are also gratefully acknowledged. PART 1.—NATURAL TICK FEVER. A.—Tue Role of the Ticks in Natukal Tick Feveu. (a) Names and Distribution of Natural Tick Fever. The disease with which this report is concerned was called Texas or Southern Cattle Fever hy the American observers who first described it (1).* In Australia it is more generally known as Tick Fever or Cattle Tick Fever. It is said to occur also in Jamaica (2), the Argentine Republic (3), South Africa (1), Roumania (1), and Java (3). The identity of the disease in these various places is now regarded as established. The Australian name of Tick Fever has become attached to it owing to the part played in its dissemination by the cattle tick. (Jj) Ticks are the Natural Transmitters of the Disease. The exact relationship of the tick to Tick Fever was definitely demonstrated by the masterly researches of Smith and Kilbourne, an account of which was published in 1893 (1). These observers showed that Te.xas Fever is not communicated directly from animal to animal, but that the cattle tick is necessary to its transmission. Healthy animals can be safely associated with sick ones provided all ticks be removed from the latter beforehand. If the ticks be not so removed, the healthy animals become infected and suffer from tick fever. Pastures previously *’ clean ” became infected when occupied by the ticks, either as a natural event, or by the artificial scattering of ticks over them. (c) 37594- A *The numbers refer to the list of literature at the end of the report.