220 
NOTES ON THE DRUG TREATMENT OF 
CANINE PIROPLASMOSIS. 
By GEORGE H. F. NUTTALL, M.A., M.D., Ph.D., Sc.D., F.R.S. 
and G. S. GRAHAM-SMITH, M.A., M.D. 
The observations relating to the treatment of canine piroplasmosis 
by means of drugs are usually very briefly recorded so that the precise 
conditions under which they were conducted cannot be ascertained. 
In South Africa Hutcheon (1893, p. 477, and 1899, p. 400) 
l’ecommended the use of repeated doses of ammonium chloride and 
belladonna, a form of treatment tried by Borthwick at Port Elizabeth 
with “excellent results.” Subsequently Hutcheon obtained encouraging 
results from the use of quinine, benzoate of soda and carbolic acid. 
Robertson (1901, p. 332) tried calomel, quinine, ammonium chloride, 
extract of belladonna, carbolic acid and benzoate of soda without 
success. In fact he thought that carbolic acid hastened death. He 
obtained the best results from a “ calomel pill to start with, then a 
calomel and quinine pill four times a day.” Without stating the dose 
he says that very large amounts of calomel are needed. Hutcheon, on 
the other hand, did not approve of the calomel treatment. 
In Europe Piana and Galli-Valerio (1895) attributed the recovery 
in one case to the use of quinine. Almy (10. x. 1901, p. 379) treated 
dogs with quinine hydrobromate, but found it to be as ineffective as 
quinine has been shown to be in the treatment of Tristeza (piroplas¬ 
mosis of cattle). 
Though various other remedies have been suggested and tried, none 
have yet been discovered which produce any marked effect on the 
course of the disease. In a few cases successful results have been 
claimed, but importance cannot be attached to these isolated instances 
since dogs occasionally recover without treatment. 
We have made a few carefully conducted experiments with selected 
drugs. In each case two dogs of about the same age and size were 
inoculated at the same time with similar doses from the same specimen 
of defibrinated heart blood obtained from a dog dying from the South 
