100 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [III, I

surra, and the immediate desideratum in this connection is the publication, by field
veterinary workers in India, of precise statistical data bearing on this question.
If, however, as is believed to have been the case, all of the 354 ponies that are
reported to have been cured in the Punjab (ante) were treated with " Bayer 205 "
administered intravenously alone, then these results compare favourably with those
obtained by the Army Veterinary authorities in India from the adoption of the
combined method of injection, for, whilst in the latter case the percentage of
recoveries varied from 77.4 to 96.3, the recoveries in the Punjab cases amounted to
91.4 per cent., whilst, according to the figures kindly supplied by the Director of
Veterinary Services, Punjab, the percentage of cures obtained in that province
from the use of this drug during the past 6 years was 87 (3,534 out of
4,055; ante).

Coming to the question of the treatment of artificial cases of surra, one notices
that out of 10 animals (inclusive of Mare No. 68 and Horse No. 70 injected intra-
thecally with tryparsamide but exclusive of Horse No. 19 and Pony No. 74) treated
during 1925-26, at Muktesar, by the simple intravenous injection of " Bayer 205 "
at the rate of 5 grammes per 1,000 lb. body-weight (Tables I and II), 9 (or 90
per cent.) were considered definitely cured of the disease, whilst, in the case of
animals treated by the combined method, the recoveries amounted to 88.2 per cent.
Judged by these results, there would seem little to choose between the two methods
and, in addition, the results of the recent trials carried out upon 8 experimental cases
of surra, at Muktesar (pp. 90 and 98) would appear to point to the conclusion that
the intravenous method alone is capable of yielding equally good results as those
obtained by the combined method, for recoveries were obtained in all of the 6
horses treated by the " intravenous alone " method, as also in the two others
treated by the combined method.

To sum up, while the introduction of the intravenous-intrathecal method has
registered a definite advance in the treatment of equine surra as being,
well calculated to prevent the occurrence of relapses, the method represents, in
reality, an extension rather than a supersedence of the simple intravenous form of
treatment, in that the combined method is indicated only in actual cases of cere-
brospinal involvement, as determined by the presence of parasites in the spinal
fluid, or " when outwardly visible symtoms of typical surra are quite manifest; "
in other cases, " complete cure can often be obtained by administering the intraven-
ous injection of the treatment alone, but successful treatment in such event is
achieved in very early cases of infection " [Edwards ; quoted by Williams, 1929].

Even as a method designed to prevent relapses, the success of the combined form
of treatment will depend upon the extent to which it would be legitimate to accept
the view that it is only the cerebrospinal region from where relapse strains originate,