12 BULLETIN 340, U. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



perature. All others should be given the serum-alone treatment in 

 doses varying in accordance with the severity of the symptoms mani- 

 fested by the individual animals. If the examination reveals a con- 

 siderable number of infections, it is advisable to use the serum alone 

 for all the animals, and in 3 or 4 weeks to revaccinate by the simul- 

 taneous method. 



The dosage should depend on the potency of the serum, serum of a 

 high potency naturally being most desirable ; thus, in some instances 

 serum in 5 c. c. doses for large animals and 3 c. c. for smaller ones was 

 found to be effective for immunization purposes. Unfortunately all 

 hyperimmune animals do not yield serum of such high potency, and 

 for this reason it is obvious that accurate potency tests should be 

 carried out by the producer of the serum. 



In the treatment of anthrax, serum should be administered in large 

 doses. An animal showing only a high temperature, with no other 

 manifestations of the disease, should be given from 30 to 50 c. c, but 

 if the gravity of the disease is pronounced, 100 c. c. should be ad- 

 ministered. In almost every instance a drop in temperature may be 

 observed and a diminishing of the severity of the symptoms. At 

 times, however, a relapse occurs about the second or third day fol- 

 lowing the serum injection, when it becomes necessary to administer 

 another dose of serum. It has been proved that animals affected 

 with anthrax, even after the bacilli are found in the blood circulation, 

 may recover after an injection of potent serum. 



The simultaneous treatment, as in the Pasteur treatment, may at 

 times result in a temperature and systemic reaction in the animals. 

 These manifestations are indicated by an elevation of temperature 

 and sometimes by a swelling at the point of inoculation of the spore 

 vaccine. These symptoms, however, are usually of short duration, 

 and only in very exceptional cases will they result in the loss of the 

 animal. However, if the reaction following the injection of the spore 

 vaccine threatens the life of the animal, a second injection of serum 

 should be administered. 



The anthrax serum injected simultaneously with the vaccine has a 

 counteracting effect upon the reaction which may follow the injec- 

 tion of the spore vaccine during the process of immunization. 



At times anaphylactic reactions are observed as a result of the 

 serum injected, especially in cases where the serum is foreign to the 

 animals treated. These manifestations appear as a rule within one- 

 half hour after injection, in the form of urticarialike eruptions, 

 swelling of the head, slight chills, and rise in temperature. More 

 severe symptoms have also been noted to follow such injections, but 

 they almost invariably subside within a few hours. 



