Annual report of the Veterinary Department, Sudan Government.

  • Sudan. Veterinary Department.
Date:
[1930]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Veterinary Department, Sudan Government. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    91/106 (page 46)
    Thus the exper t ients now to be recorded were designed not with the intention of iscertaining whether T.soudanense con¬ stitutes an appreciable clanger to horses and donkeys, because there is sufficient evidence that in the Sudan it does not; the ,$.int at issue has been the possibility of horses and donkeys being carriers” or ’’reservoirs of the trypanosoma, and so con¬ stituting a danger to the camel. It was decided to give more ■ particular attention to donkeys because as a species they normally come under less observation than horses. The proposed series of investigations was as follows:- (a) Is it possible to infect local donkeys with the local strain of T.soudanense ? (b) Is the course of the disease of such a nature that it might escape clinical notice, including microscopic examination of the blood 9 (c) Do infected donkeys recover spontaneously ? (d) Is it possible to cure them - the therapeutic agent in mind being Naganol ? (e) Is it not possible that a more careful search will reveal naturally occurring cases ? Experiments wer- started at the end of 192J, but it was not until early in that sufficient data were accumulated to make a report profitable; in particular the question of possible natural infection had not been settled. The following is a summary of experimental observations. (a) Possibility of artificial infection. 12.11.2J. Three donkeys were ’purchased, proved free from infection by the inoculation of white rats, and infected directly from a camel with T♦soudanense. Daily microscopic examination of the blood demonstrated an identical type of infection in all donkeys. Trypanosomes appeared in every case on the seventh day. (b) Course of the infection. Temperatures were taken twice daily and blood was e examined daily, and again in all three cases an identical course presented itself,namely, intermit¬ tent attacks of mild fever lasting three or four days but at very irregular intervals. The febrile periods were always coincident,with the presence of trypanosomes in the blood, but conversely trypanosomes were often present for several successive days without associated fever. Th-. donkeys fed well throughout and did not los& condicion : one of them was regularly used for light work and showed no loss of condition as compared with the two others. In fact, failing the regular employment of thermometer and microscope no abnormality would have been noticed in any of the donkeys. Observations of this order 'were noted for ten weeks' in the case 'f two of the donkeys, following which no fever, no trypanosomes and no loss of condition were re¬ corded up to a total period of seven months. The third donkey w. 3 treated after about five weeks.