NEW TUBERCULIN TEST

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6809, 12 January 1929, Page 12

NEW TUBERCULIN TEST

“HERDS FEED IN SHORTER TIME.’’ ■ Another advance towards obtaining milk free from tho dreaded tubercular bacilli has been made by the approval of the Tuberculin Committee of the Medical Research Council of what is called tho “double intradermal test” for tubercular iu cattle. The committee, in their report, state that they found that the* subcutaneous test, which had usually been employed in the testing of cattle, unless carried out with the precision of a scientific experiment, was subject to many fallacies and difficulties of interpretation. To find a test suitable for ordinary field work, they devised a modification of tho intradermal test, involving two injections of tuberculin, a sensitising dose, and a reacting dose on different occasions.

Professor J. Basil Buxton and Dr. A. Salisbury MacNalty were appointed in June, 1927, to investigate and Tcport upon the working of a double intradermal test. They sent a questionnaire to one hundred veterinary surgeons and seventy-seven had replied. As a result of the study of Professor Buxton’s and Dr. MacNalty’s report, the committee had concluded that “the double intradermal test is found to be a reliable test for the detection of tuberculosis in cattle, and this view has been confirmed by the results of post-mortem examinations of tested animals. “For instance, out of 535 animals which had shown no reaction to the subcutaneous test, 122 reacted to the double intradermal test, and 94 of these reactors proved tuberculosis at autopsv. No autopsy was made in the remaining 28 animals. “The test is regarded as simple, clean, and ' easily performed under farm conditions; its technique is easily acquired, it saves the time of the veterinary surgeon and tho stockowner; it docs not disturb the farm routine; it docs not involve keeping the animals indoors; it has little or no effect upon the milk-yield; and it may be applied to pregnant cows without risk, and to young animals even three or four months old or less.” Professor Buxton and Dr. MacNalty, discussing the suggestion that the double intradermal test should be made compulsory, presumably as regards the requirements of tho Ministry of Health for the tuberculin testing of herds producing graded .milk, state that the arguments “for this recommendation are that it is the most reliable form of tost, and herds can be formed free from tuberculosis in a much shorter time and with less expense by its use than with other tests.” The committee advise that a standardised tuberculin be used in testing herds for graded milk production.