Abstract
In attempting to evaluate the relative therapeutic merits of various types of chemicals proposed from time to time as effective in coccidiosis of the domestic fowl (Gallus gallus), several such agents have been administered by mouth to naturally infested fowls, and the effects have been compared with the results obtained by rendering the intestinal contents more acid than normal by dietary regulation or by lactic acid. The hens studied were naturally infested with Eimeria acervulina Tyzzer, 1929, E. maxima Tyzzer, 1929, and E. mitis Tyzzer, 1929.
Diphenylamine and 3-acetylamino-4-hydroxyphenylarsonic acid (acetarsone N.N.R.) in 8 hens each were ineffective in varying doses by mouth in causing a cessation or decrease in the intensity of the discharge of oocysts of the organisms noted. These compounds failed to influence in any way the symptoms of the disease in the hens treated. Carbon tetrachloride administered by mouth in varying doses to 17 naturally infested hens was likewise without effect.
Tetrachlorethylene in doses of 1 cc. daily for 5, 7, and 12 days respectively in 3 infested hens had no effect. In daily doses of 2 cc. the drug caused a pronounced decrease in the intensity of discharge of all the oocysts involved within 5 days after treatment was inaugurated in the 4 hens studied. In doses of 2 cc. twice daily for 4 days the drug was also effective in reducing the intensity of the discharge of the oocysts. Tetrachlorethylene, however, when given to hens over a period of time causes characteristic lesions of the intestinal tract with pronounced symptoms and may even cause death.
Methyl violet at a dosage of 0.2 gm. twice daily for 2 days, while stopping the discharge of oocysts in the 3 hens studied, caused no improvement in the condition of the birds and, in fact, resulted in death 4 days after treatment was instituted.
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