Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the EctozoaCobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Science
Parasites: A Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals: Including Some Account of the Ectozoa
Cobbold, T. Spencer (Thomas Spencer)
Helminths; Parasites
The important question as to whether the presence of cysts detected
at the root of the tongue could be made available for the purposes of
diagnosis was made the subject of special report through the agency of
executive Commissariat officers, and they testified to its practical
valuelessness in the following terms:
“_Jullundur._--No appearance of cyst has been found at the root of the
tongues of any of the cattle. A medical officer was asked for assistance
in making search for the cysts, but he also found none.
“_Rawul Pindee._--It is utterly impossible to discriminate before
slaughter, from any outward symptoms, cattle that are cyst infected.
“Every endeavour has been made to discover by close and careful scrutiny
before slaughter the cyst-infected cattle, but the result has been in no
way satisfactory.
“_Sealkote._--All endeavours to discover any symptoms of the infection
by examination of their tongues, while the animals were living, have
been unsuccessful.
“_Mooltan._--The mouth and tongue of a large number of living cattle
have been examined before slaughter, but in no single instance has the
infection been so detected.
“Dr. Ross’s plan of examining the tongues of all animals at time of
purchase is not feasible, as they are usually very wild and frightened,
and often dangerous to approach.
“_Peshawur._--In probably 99 cases out of 100 it is utterly impossible
to discover cyst infection in cattle previous to slaughter by
examination of their tongues. In only one instance has it been so
discovered, and that was from the animal’s having a number of small
lumps over the body which were also apparent on the back part of the
tongue. When the tongue is infected the ‘cyst’ lies so far at the very
root of it that it cannot be seen in the live animal.”
From Mooltan a specially interesting report was made by Dr Alexander
Neill, who says:--
“I have carefully examined the mouth and tongue of a large number of
living cattle, and of those slaughtered for issue as rations, and in no
single instance did I find such cysts. These cattle were healthy.
“In a case that died, and in which cysts existed, I could discover
nothing abnormal in or under the tongue.
“If such ‘cysts’ exist, or if such enlargements of the sublingual glands
are found, I argue that they are not a diagnostic sign of what is termed
‘cyst infection,’ or more correctly ‘_Cysticercus bovis_,’ for in the
recent outbreak of cattle disease in England, one most prominent symptom
of that disease was a bunch of grape-like swelling under the tongue,
which in advanced cases suppurated, and to a casual observer would have
been called cysts or ‘bags of matter.’
“If such swellings are found in a bullock that is sick, it is merely
symptomatic of an inflamed condition of the whole mucous surface of the
intestinal canal, and not of any localised disease, such as Cysticercus,
the above-mentioned swellings being merely inflamed sublingual glands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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