iow, of the fact that Shanghai dog-lovers, through the "North-Ching Uberaily "to the Piela" Distemper Fund that doubitean they will be most gratified to ly have been rewarded and veterinary ne com administer cram which in @ practical guarantee againat Dake Portland sume up the fort in an article in in the course of which he eayet—
A. ten years' labour brought to its official end.
It isa labour which, in a sentence, has dissipated the menace of dog dis temper. On this success the first congratulations are due to the scientifle investigators, Dr. P. P. Laidlaw, FARS.. and Mr. G. W. Dun. kin; M.R.CV.S., whose luminous} insight and. patient skill solved a problem which had baffled other biologists for 40" years, and in solving it added a new and import ant chapter to the history and study} of virus diseases in human beings s_well as in animals.
Before a meeting of the Central Veterinary Society in June, 1932, Major "Dalling stated that the! method had been "used during the past year for thousands of dogs! throughout the country, and that under half-a-dozen cases of failure to produce immunity had been reported, An. independent inquiry: has been made by the M-F-H. Asso. jsiation to ascertain the opinions of Masters. The replies show that the majority of Masters who have tried the method, and the great, majority of those who have had extensive and recent experience of it, hold favourable opinions.
'The Lederle Laboratories, Pearl River, New York, have manufac: tured'and issued vaccine and dried 8 on a large scale. No statistics are as yet available regarding' the! results "in America, but personal communications from Dr. Eichhorn (the Director of the Laboratories), And also information gathered Mr, Dunkin on the occasion of hi visit to the United States, show that the vaccine-virus method of immunication is, giving satisfactory) results in America. Professor Stockard of Cornell Unive New York, has recently pubbs valuable' account of his experience with the Lederle products. His figures, based upon the inoculation of nearly 200 dogs, disclose that 90 per cent, showed either note or only the slightest signs, and 8 further 65 per cent. were affected thy Yo a quite moderate extent. As regards subsequent history, over 92] per cent. have shown immanity on' exposure to infection and another per cent, have shown slight sym-toms.
He gives his opinion in the following te "The " treatment seems to me to offer a very safe Sporting proposition when over 96 per cent. of the animals vac are-in no way injured by it. The further fact that only 3 per cent. of these animals later developed Pronounced distemper, although all of them have been exposed is, cor-tainly, a most gratifying result comparison with the terrors and high mortality, of the distemper epidemics, which were experienced before using this immunising treatment. Only 1 in 33 duals, according to our record, ix subject! {to severe distemper after the vacelnation; while, on the other hand, in our' last epidemic, 78 out of 96) susceptible animals contracted dis-
died of the disease. There is no temper and §5 per cent of these questioning the fact scourge of dogdom is conquered.
When the fund was inaugurated ten years ago, distemper was regarded as of almost inevitable oe. currence in every dog's. life, and
effects "in a large proportion caused either death of serious after. cases. No. trustworthy. means for its prevention was known; the only' treatment was purely empirical and Kiangsi, Hupeh, Szechwan, Kweichow: and Shantung, but the pro-Vince of Shansi is one of the richest, if not the richest in the whole of ina, Most of Shar anthracite coal comes from the Hongay Mines Jof French Indo-China, and her bituruinous coal from the Kailan col-the Kaiping District of the province The coat concession i in
Chibi end. the Company' ie tors fante to have the "seaport of Chinwangtao, a distance of be miles sway. he la Chia Ko mine has a"aaily output. of 2.500 tone. the Rew mine of Chao Ko Chang, which Fas reached 'a depth of 00 feet, Produces 5,500. tous dally, andthe Est mine daily output of 14,500 tons.
The Hongay Coal atiness are sise equiped wih, modern machinery.
methods of mining are pen cat and underground or shaft ings The open gat ie. naturally sed wherever possible as itis moe Sheeper' Toe mies sre in Toning Sd the coal is loaded st one of the two Hongay. Ports for export, palliative; ways clearly distinguishable from other diseases, and the very nature of the causative organism was dispute. The position has now been completely changed as the result of the work done by Dr. P. P. Laidlaw, F.RS,, and Mr. G. W. Dunkin, MLH.C.V.S. the cause of the disaas has been clearly defined, and its ture is better understood. Two methods of protective inoculation have been devised, and trial large scale has shown them to" be successful. A" useful method of curative treatment has also been me troduced, The subsequent work of commercial laboratories,. in Great Britain and the United States, has now made these results available to the veterinary profession and 50 to the public for the benefit of dogs of every kind.
The principal steps that have Ted to this great change may be briefly early obtained. per is due This knowledge provided a 1 basis for new means of prevention and treatment, (2) Tt was, shown that distome per can be readily transmitted from ferret to dog and' vice versa, and this fact was of the greatest assiste ance in the subsequent experiment= al work, Other studies were made fof the infectivity, symptoms and Dathology of primary" distemper.
(3) "Eventually, it was foun' possible to produce'the following:—'Virus, containing the living' sanisms of the disease, and capable
an severely infecting. susceptible Vaccine, containing the killed or+ taniams of the diseaa strongly immune by ministrations of virus, be immunis the "simultaneous, inoculation, different sides of the body, of unti= serum and virus.
(G) Tt was found that the anti" serum, used alone, was of value in lessening the severity of an attack ted) of dis tem when given early one ough in the disease; it is also use= ful for giving temporary protection to animals that have recently. been exposed to infection.
(7) 'The experimental use of these different. methods was, extended to {rials on a_large scale with do under, ordinary conditions, notably Kennels' of foxhounds. Highly: snee cessful. results were obtained, A Subsequent survey of the results with the vaccine-virus method showa that, in enses where exposure 10 infection was certain, the incidence of distemper. among 650 hounds. bee longing. to 23 hunting packs was only 1-4 per cent, and the death ate from this cause 03 per cent, Without inoculation, the Incidence among young foxhounds in. this gantry is nearly 100 per gent, and the death rate ix frequently 30 per ind inlay exceed 75. per cent.
(8)_'With a view to facilitating manufacture for general use, many highly technical questions asto. the mode' of preparation, standard isa tion, and stability of the different products Were Investigated ~and The research having thus been completely successful, as shown not only by experiment' but also by. large scale trials under. ordinary, conditions, the supply of the pro-duets passed to commercial laboratories in Great Britain, and in the United States. The early results of this "were not uniformly satistactory in this country, owing in part to special difficulties at first found by the manufacturers in rapidly selting up large-scale production 10 meet an enormous and urgent. demand from dog-lovers, and in part to the novelty. of the method and to some want of appreciation of the proper conditions for its use. "More Fecent experience of the. general supply Shows that the vaccine-virus ethos now successful in a wong high percentage of eases. " Experi ence of tevum-vivas immunisation is as-yet less adequate, but the mex thod involves only a' single attendance by the veterinary practitioner, and is often preferred by reason fof its, practical" convenience. The se gf serum, alone for curative treatment is giving good results.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.