Report of the Department of AcRicfLTrRE. 519 



considered to he very satisfactoiy,* so luueli so indeed that it was 

 considered pert'ectly safe to reopen the district to ox transport. A 

 hlock of 18 farms was quarantined ; within this area the dipping- 

 interval was shortened from 7 to 5 days and handdressing' was also 

 ordered. The source of this outbreak has not yet been discovered, 

 bvit seeing that several locations in the Transkei bordering on the 

 Komg-ha District were at the time actively infected with East Coast 

 fever, it is highly probable that that Avas the source of infection. 



T ranavaaJ.- — There are nine districts in which East Coast fever 

 exists, as compared with six at the end of June, 1921. (1) Ljjden- 

 burg. — In this district there is only one infected farm, two having 

 been released from quarantine during the year, and no fresh out- 

 breaks have occurred. At Elandsdrift No. 41, twelve deaths 

 occurred, with 28 last year. The last death occurred in March, 

 1922, and there is every reason tor believing that the disease 

 is now under control, and no furtlier deaths are expected. (2) Piet 

 Retief. — There were 12 infected farms in this district at the end 

 of June, 1922, as compared with 13 the previous year. While no 

 less than 12 farms became clean during the period under review, 

 11 fresh outbreaks have recently occurred, a serious setback. The 

 infection would appear to have been introduced from Swaziland on 

 the one side and from Natal on the other. The disease was first 

 discovered on the farm Hebron No. 185, and it was proved that cattle 

 from the farm in question were allowed to stray into Swaziland 

 shortly before the disease broke (nit on this farm. Six further farms 

 adjoining the Swaziland border subsequently became infected, and 

 the disease was, unfortunately, conveyed by means of transport oxen 

 from one or other of these farms to the Piet Retief Town Lands, 

 where a single death only occurred. Eurther outbreaks occurred on 

 the farms Zendelingspost No. 145 and Bakenkop No. 121, on the 

 Natal border. While the mortality on the majority of the newly 

 infected farms cannot be regarded as serious, the reintroductiou of 

 the disease into this district is most disappointing, and had it not 

 occurred, only one farm would have been remaining in quarantine 

 at the end of the year. In this district 125 deaths from East Coast 

 fever have occurred and 3416 head remain in-contact. (3) Fieters- 

 hurg. — Excellent progress in the eradication of disease was made, 

 and only 6 farms remain infected as against 14 at the end of last 

 year, and of the 6 infected farms 3 will become clean in Julj^ and 

 August by lapse of time since the last death. The only fresh out- 

 breaks occurred in January and February, 1922, on the farms Mid- 

 dagzon No. 926 and Nooitgedacht No. 56 respectively, where only 

 one death occurred. The total number of deaths in this district from 

 East Coast 'fever amounted to (Uily 5 head, and 6000 animals remain 

 in-contact. (4) Barberton. — Excellent progress was also made in this 

 district, as disclosed by the fact that only 3 farms remain in 

 quarantine as compared"^ with 16 at the end of the previous year. 

 One fresh outbreak occurred, however, on the farm Rozentuin, 

 situated near the border of the Carolina District. The source of 

 infection has not yet been discovered, but as the farm is in an 

 isolated part of the district there is little doubt that the outbreak 



*Up to August, 1922, onlj^ one animal is known to have died nf the disease out of 

 total of 1282 in-contacts. . 



